Iran eyes $3b trade with Kazakhstan as president visits Central Asia
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Wednesday that his visits to Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan offer a strategic opening to deepen economic, cultural, and regional cooperation, with a high-level Iranian business delegation accompanying him on the trip.
Speaking in Tehran ahead of departure, Pezeshkian said Iran aims to significantly raise its approximately $400 million current trade volume with Kazakhstan, as reported by his website.
According to Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture, bilateral trade over the past 10 months totaled $360 million.
The president arrived in Astana on Wednesday evening for an official bilateral visit, where he was welcomed by the country’s deputy prime minister and deputy foreign minister.
In Tehran, he emphasized that both nations possess untapped capacity for collaboration not only bilaterally but also through multilateral platforms including the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), BRICS, the Eurasian Economic Union, and the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO).
Technical working groups and joint commissions have already held preparatory talks, finalizing agreements across sectors such as economy, industry, mining, transport, tourism, culture, trade, and transit, according to the president.
The Kazakhstan leg of the trip, conducted at the official invitation of President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, reflects Tehran’s intent to reinforce ties with fellow Muslim-majority nations and promote regional stability, Pezeshkian added.
Following the Kazakhstan visit, the Iranian delegation will head to Turkmenistan, where an international summit revolving around peace will be held with several heads of state in attendance.
In parallel, the Iran-Kazakhstan Trade and Economic Cooperation Seminar convened in Tehran, where Samad Hassanzadeh, head of the Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture, outlined concrete mechanisms to accelerate bilateral commerce, IRNA reported.
Hassanzadeh reported that bilateral trade over the past 10 months totaled $360 million — $243 million in Iranian exports and $115 million in imports from Kazakhstan — yielding a positive trade balance for Iran. However, he stressed that the current figure remains far beneath the two countries’ actual potential.
With Kazakhstan’s gross domestic product exceeding $288 billion, Hassanzadeh described it as a pivotal Eurasian economy and one of Iran’s most important partners in Central Asia.
He highlighted the recently implemented Iran-Eurasia free trade agreement as a “golden opportunity” for Kazakhstan to access markets in the Persian Gulf, South Asia, Africa, and parts of Europe via Iran, while positioning Iran as a regional distribution hub for Central Asian goods.
Officials from both sides argue that with targeted reforms and removal of non-tariff barriers, bilateral trade could reach $3 billion — a more than eightfold increase from current levels.