Kazakhstan, Italy seek to boost cooperation
Kazakhstan and Italy celebrate the 10th anniversary of the bilateral Strategic Partnership Treaty, signed on 5 November 2009 in Rome, which came under discussion during the 14 November 2019 meeting of the Deputy Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan, Roman Vasilenko, and the Italian Deputy Foreign Minister, Manlio Di Stefano, who is on a working visit to Nur Sultan, the Kazakh Foreign Ministry’s press service informs.
The interlocutors went over the state and prospects of strengthening political cooperation, as well as reaffirmed their common positions on issues of interaction in the international arena.
Particular emphasis was placed on trade, economic and investment cooperation, Kazakhstan’s transport and logistics potential, as well as on the need for cooperation among Kazakhstan, Italy and China under the Chinese initiative Belt and Road.
The EU-Kazakhstan Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement’s ratification by the Senate of Italy was noted in a positive light.
While his visit to Nur-Sultan, the Italian diplomat also had a meeting with the Governor of the Astana International Financial Center, Kairat Kelimbetov, the heads of the Kazakh Ministries of Finance, Agriculture and Ecology.
Manlio Di Stefano attended the first Kazakh-Italian Business Forum, held jointly with the National Welfare Fund Samruk-Kazyna.
Italy is the largest trading partner of Kazakhstan among EU countries with the trade standing at $6.9B in January and September 2019 (exports - $5.9B, imports - $1B), while direct investments from Italy in the Kazakh economy have totalled $5.8B since 2005. There are 164 enterprises with Italian participation in Kazakhstan.
