Kazakhstan capable of increasing exports to Italy by more than 100 commodity items - President

“The first priority is to deepen trade and economic ties. Tariff conflicts between the key economic poles of the world are fraught with grave consequences for all countries. In such realities, it is extremely important for us not only to maintain the established trade and economic ties, but also to make efforts to strengthen them. In our opinion, special emphasis can be placed on launching joint projects to expand the range of goods, primarily through non-raw materials with high added value. Kazakhstan is capable of increasing exports to Italy by more than 100 commodity items by about $1 billion,” Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said.

According to him, the Central Asian countries have great potential to increase supplies of their agricultural products to Europe, including organic ones, counting on the export of meat products, agricultural crops, dry milk and other food products. Kazakhstan is also ready to increase the export of wheat and flour to the Italian markets.

"We are interested in close cooperation between our agricultural and scientific and educational centers in the transfer of advanced practices and technologies - primarily in the field of bioengineering, sustainable agriculture and livestock farming," the President noted.

In addition, he pointed out significant opportunities for cooperation in the field of processing agricultural products. Given Italy's leading positions within the European Union, Kazakhstan is interested in an export dialogue to promote the harmonization of standards and certification in the agricultural sector.

Earlier, the first Central Asia-Italy summit started in Astana. Speaking at the event, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev noted that Italy has invested more than $7.6 billion in Kazakhstan.