Kazakhstan and Italy strengthen dialogue in year of 15th anniversary of strategic partnership
On June 25, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Roman Vassilenko had a meeting with Ambassador of the Italian Republic to Kazakhstan Marco Alberti, the press service of the Kazakh MFA reported.
The parties discussed the relevant issues on the bilateral agenda, the progress of investment projects, the expansion of the legal framework, as well as high-level contacts and cultural and humanitarian events scheduled in the year of the 15th anniversary of the Kazakhstan-Italy strategic partnership.
Roman Vassilenko noted the importance of implementing the agreements reached during the official visit of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to the Italian Republic in January 2024, as well as the need to maintain the dynamics of contacts at the highest level.
The diplomats agreed that the first Astana-Milan flight scheduled for early July by Neos airline, as well as the eventual launch of regular flights in the near future, will give a significant impetus to the entire spectrum of Kazakh-Italian relations.
In turn, Marco Alberti informed about the activities of the Italian Cultural Center in Almaty and shared plans for the implementation of cultural and image-building projects aimed at strengthening humanitarian ties between the two countries.
The sides expressed satisfaction with the positive dynamics in the development of contacts in the field of education and science, including the planned launch of a double degree program with one of the leading Italian agricultural universities this fall.
The Kazakh diplomat spoke on facilitating the EU visa regime for citizens of Kazakhstan. Expressing gratitude to the Italian side for its support in this matter, Roman Vassilenko noted that promoting dialogue and achieving specific measures in this area would help create favorable conditions for intensifying mutually beneficial interaction in all areas of cooperation.
Italy is the third largest trading partner of Kazakhstan (after China and Russia) with a share of 14.4% in the total volume of foreign trade turnover in 2023.
According to Kazakh statistics, in January-April 2024, bilateral trade turnover reached 6.4 billion US dollars (exports - 6 billion, imports - 400 million). At the end of 2023 - 16 billion US dollars (exports - 14.8 billion, imports - 1.2 billion). Since 2005, the volume of foreign direct investments from Italy to Kazakhstan has amounted to over 7.6 billion US dollars.
According to the Italian side, in the first five months of 2024, it issued 12,210 visas to citizens of the Republic of Kazakhstan (more than 9,600 of which are tourist Schengen visas), which is 47% more than in the same period in 2023.