N. Nazarbayev met with heads of holdings and companies of Iran

Heads of more than 20 Iranian companies representing different spheres such as energy, agriculture, construction and mining sectors took part in the meeting.

The participants of the meeting representing Iranian companies stressed a great potential of the cooperation with Kazakhstan in many spheres. In this regard, they expressed their interest in establishment of new contacts and development of the existing relations.

The President noted the mutual interest in strengthening of cooperation in several spheres. He also called on Iranian companies to actively use the potential of the Kazakhstan-Turkestan-Iran railroad.

The Head of State told about the advantages of cooperation with Kazakhstan. The fact that Kazakhstan is a part of the Eurasian Economic Union allows Iranian companies to trade with the other countries of the Union without any additional taxes. Besides, Kazakhstan recently joined the WTO and signed the agreement on expansion of the partnership with the European Union and has the best rating in the region in terms of the investment climate.

N. Nazarbayev emphasized that Kazakhstan can offer a wide range of preferences for investors that includes subsidies, stability of the law and taxation privileges. Besides, the reforms on further improvement of the investment climate are conducted in Kazakhstan within the framework of the National Plan "100 specific steps".

N. Nazarbayev also reminded that the EXPO-2017 would be held in Astana next year.

He also informed the participants of the meeting that a number of priority state programs were implemented in Kazakhstan that the Iranian companies could be a part of. In particular, it's "Nurly Zhol" program and the second phase of the industrialization program as well as the program on development of the agricultural sector.

Moreover, Kazakhstan is interested in development of cooperation with Iran in such spheres as medicine, biotechnology, agriculture, space technologies.

In conclusion, N. Nazarbayev stressed that Kazakhstan highly appreciated the willingness and readiness of Iranian companies for cooperation with Kazakhstan and wished them success in their work.