Contracts between Kazakhstan, Iran put on hold due to payment risks - Kazakh PM

ASTANA. May 13 (Interfax) - The development of trade between Kazakhstan and Iran will slow down in 2026 due to the conflict in the Persian Gulf and ongoing payment issues, Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Economy Serik Jumangarin said.

"It [trade with Iran] is somewhere around, the last time I gave a figure it was $450 million, I think, in 2025. In 2026, of course, it will slow down due to the conflict which is currently ongoing in the Persian Gulf," he told journalists at the sidelines of parliament on Wednesday.

He said that the task which had been set previously of bringing annual trade between the two countries up to $3 billion remained difficult to accomplish.

Jumangarin said that signed contracts had effectively been put on hold, since traders feared risks around conducting payments.

"Contracts were signed, as far as I know, but traders have come to a standstill. Why? Because payments are ultimately a risk. Iran - the biggest question has always been that of payment, because payments were [...] practically always conducted via third countries," he said.

He also said that there were still restrictions on supplying some non-food goods to the country.

"There are issues relating to the sanctions on non-food goods. We have requested to be granted the possibility of supplying non-food goods, but there hasn't yet been any breakthrough in this area," the deputy prime minister said.

At the end of 2023, Kazakhstan and Iran set a goal of increasing trade to $3 billion per year. In 2025, they announced plans to increase annual bilateral trade to $1 billion in the first stage and $2 billion in the next.

Trade between the two countries exceeded $340 million in 2024.