Making the remark here Wednesday in the 12th meeting of the joint trade, economic, scientific, technical and cultural committee of Iran and Kazakhstan, he said that Iran and Kazakhstan as two ECO member states should move toward increasing trade relations among the member states.

He also said that the volume of bilateral trade exchanges was not according to the capacities of the two countries and noted that Iran for its turn has taken big steps towards providing access for Central Asian countries especially Kazakhstan to free waters.

Salehi also noted the transit corridor to connect Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Oman and Kazakhstan is one of the most important projects in the region taking place within the framework of multilateral cooperation.

He also said that Iran-Turkmenistan-Kazakhstan railway project is passing through its final phases in Turkmenistan.

Referring to his meeting with the Kazakh President this morning, he said President Nazarbayev, too, was not happy with the volume of trade exchanges between the two countries and called for increase in the figure to dlrs 5 billion.

Meanwhile, a memorandum of understanding was signed between the two sides on bilateral cooperation.