A business delegation from North Khorasan Province has travelled to Kazakhstan in search of business partners and foreign investment, the head of Bojnourd Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture Saeed Pourabadi, said on Saturday.
The 20-member delegation hails from different sectors, such as agriculture, animal husbandry, construction and food industry, as well as knowledge-based and logistic companies (land, rail and air transportation).
“Kazakhstan supports Iran's agriculture outsourcing and Iranian farmers can benefit from subsidized agricultural inputs in the country,” says Mohammad Ashraf Akbari, the head of Iran-Kazakhstan Innovation and Trade Exchange Center.
“Russia, China and South Korea are Kazakhstan’s main trading partners and account for 35%, 17% and 13% of the country’s total imports respectively,” says Hassan Valad-Beigi of Iran-Kazakhstan Chamber of Commerce, adding that it is not easy for Iran to enter Kazakhstan’s market.
“Iran exported $41 million worth of pistachio, $15 million of grapes, $12.5 million of dates and $7.7 million of apples to Kazakhstan in the fiscal 2020-21,” he said.
“Honey, milk powder, pistachio, dates, cucumber, tomato, apple, cabbage, potato, onion, watermelon, orange and kiwi, as well as harvesting machinery, grain storage and water conservation equipment are the main needs of Kazakhstan.”
Valad-Beigi noted that there are good investment opportunities in Kazakhstan, as the country has an underdeveloped downstream mining industry.