On 26 September, 16thsession of Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific and Cultural Collaboration between Islamic Republic of Iran and Republic of Kazakhstan was held at the Ministry of Agriculture of Kazakhstan. The intergovernmental commission was co-chaired by Minister of Agriculture of Kazakhstan Mr. Saparkhan Omarov and Minister of Agriculture of Iran Mr. Mahmoud Hojjati. Prior to the session, the ministers held bilateral negotiations.
Mr. Omarov stressed the importance of partnership between Iran and Kazakhstan, especially in agricultural field. For instance, volume of agricultural products that Kazakhstan exported to Iran from January to June increased by 3,8% (from $160,2m to $166,5m).
Most of the products exported to Iran were:
- barley – amounted to $143,4m (741,1k tons);
- cattle meat, fresh or chilled: carcasses and body parts – $5,6m (1,1k tons);
- seeds of rapeseed, whole or crushed – $5,5m (13,8k tons);
- lentils, peeled or unpeeled, chopped and not chopped – worth $1,6m (4,4k tons);
- seed barley - $1,3m (6,2k tons).
On 12 February, «Memorandum of understanding between Ministry of Agriculture of Kazakhstan, Ministry of Agriculture of Russian Federation and Ministry of Agriculture Jihad of Islamic Republic of Iran on collaboration in wheat trade» was signed within a Temporary agreement on free trade zone between Eurasian Customs Union (EACU) and Iran.
Kazakhstan also proposed to collaborate in animal husbandry, as it is planning to increase export of lamb in future. Iran is equally interested in creation of collaborative meat processing enterprises in Kazakhstan.
An example is «Empire Foods» meat processing complex recently commissioned in Almaty region in partnership with Iranian business.
Another potential area for collaboration is establishment of joint projects in fish and vegetable oil production in Kazakhstan.
For reference: trade turnover of agricultural products between Kazakhstan and Iran for period between January and June of 2019 decreased by 0,6% comparing to 2018 ($184m and $182,9m). Import of agricultural products from Iran to Kazakhstan for January-June 2019 also decreased by 30,6% (from $23,8 to $16,5m).
Main products imported from Iran to Kazakhstan were:
- dates, fresh or dried – worth $8,5m (18,1k tons);
- dried grapes – worth $23m (4,4k tons);
- pistachios – $1,9m (663,9 tons);
- onions and shallots – amounted to $896,5k (2,700 tons)
