Volume of Iran-Kazakhstan transit to increase four-fold

TEHRAN, Oct. 31 (MNA) – The Iranian Roads and Urban Development Minister has said that with a new agreement between Iran and Kazakhstan, the volume of bilateral transit between the two nations will increase four-fold. Rostam Ghasemi, Iranian Roads and Urban Development Minister made the remarks while speaking to reporters about a joint meeting he held with Serik Zhumangarin, the new Acting Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Trade and Integration of the Republic of Kazakhstan and accompanying delegation in Tehran on Monday. "The two countries agreed to sign a memorandum of understanding to increase cooperation in the field of transportation and transit, which includes three important issues: electronification of customs, coordinating tariffs duties, and issuance of visas for Iranian truck drivers and businessmen," Ghasemi said. Referring to the recent meeting between Iran, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan and the tripartite agreement to facilitate the issue of transportation and transit, the Iranian minister also said, "Kazakhstan is the railway from China to Turkmenistan and Iran, and there are agreements on facilitating transit on this route reached with Kazakhstan trade minister in this regard." He further added that "the Kazakhstan minister along with his accompanying delegation will visit Shahid Rajaei port [in Iran's Chabahar] tomorrow and it was decided to cooperate with Iran in various areas of transportation, including rail transportation, road transportation, sea transportation, air transportation, and cargo transfer from the north-south and east-west corridors." Stating that the volume of transit between Iran and Kazakhstan is currently one million tons per year, he noted, "According to the joint agreement that will be signed today, an increase in the volume of transit between the two countries is expected to rise from one million tons to 4 million tons annually." Serik Zhumangarin, for his part, said about the agreement between Tehran and Astana to increase cooperation in various fields of transportation, transit, and logistics and said, "The two countries have agreed on the existing issues in the field of transit and drawing a road map to solve these problems between Iran, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, which was also recently discussed in a joint meeting in Turkmenistan." The Kazakh official pointed to the agreement between the two countries to sign a memorandum of understanding in order to enhance the level of infrastructure cooperation in the field of transportation logistics.