Iran, Kazakhstan target $3b trade volume, pledge expanded economic cooperation
Iran and Kazakhstan on Thursday emphasized expanding economic cooperation and raising bilateral trade volume to $3 billion, state media reported.
Iran's Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade and Kazakhstan's Minister of Trade and Integration stressed the goal during talks in Astana on the eve of the Eurasian Economic Union summit, according to IRNA. "The industrial and economic capacities of the two countries have made achieving the $3 billion trade target feasible," Iran's Industry Minister Mohammad Atabak said. "A specialized working group will be formed to operationalize areas of cooperation at the expert level, and the specialized deputy ministries of the Industry, Mine and Trade Ministry are tasked with pursuing various branches of Iran-Kazakhstan cooperation."
Atabak identified resolving banking obstacles as the key to expanding bilateral trade. "The trade agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union has created the groundwork for facilitating interbank transactions between traders of the two countries," he said.
"Iran is also prepared to cooperate, where appropriate, on using barter trade capacity in areas including steel, iron, grains, oil, sunflower, meal and various minerals," Atabak added.
The two sides agreed to expand technical and engineering services exports, establish science and technology parks, exchange industrial expertise, develop logistics and rail transport, and boost food product trade.
The meeting aimed to lay groundwork for realizing a shared commercial vision and maximizing benefits from the Eurasian Economic Union agreement, with executive actions to be pursued through a joint working group.
Atabak, who traveled to Astana to attend the 5th Eurasian Economic Forum (EEF–2026), also delivered a message from Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian to the gathering, which brought together 140 representatives from more than 30 countries and 20 international organizations.In the message, Pezeshkian described Iran's active participation in Eurasian Union meetings as reflecting Tehran's serious commitment to expanding strategic relations with members of the economic bloc and called for accelerating the removal of structural barriers to realizing high trade potential.
In another part of his message, the president described cooperation with union members as a long-term strategy for regional convergence, and citing cultural, historical and geographical commonalities, emphasized the need to fully leverage existing opportunities to create a successful model of multilateral cooperation.
The 5th Eurasian Economic Forum (EEF–2026) was held May 28-29 in Astana, under the main theme "The EAEU in the Global Digital Race: Betting on Artificial Intelligence."
On the sidelines of the forum, Atabak met with Kazakhstan's Minister of Industry and Construction, Kanat Sharlapaev, where they agreed to draft and sign bilateral memorandums of understanding to framework cooperation and facilitate implementation of industrial plans. A key focus of the talks was addressing financial challenges facing contractors and industrialists from both countries. In this regard, the sides agreed to establish necessary mechanisms to facilitate issuance of bank guarantees aimed at ensuring implementation of joint projects and supporting active companies in these sectors.
Kazakhstan's Minister of Industry and Construction welcomed the proposals and emphasized his country's readiness to provide legal and executive frameworks for more active presence of Iranian companies in Kazakhstan's industrial projects.
The meeting, considered an important step toward strengthening economic relations in the Eurasian region, concluded with emphasis on continuing expert-level consultations to finalize the memorandums.