Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani had a telephone conversation today with Kazakhstan’s Foreign Minister, Yermek Kosherbayev. During the conversation, Tajani reaffirmed the strength of bilateral relations and emphasised that Kazakhstan is a very important partner for Italy, with whom there is a desire to further strengthen the economic and trade partnership, not least with a view to further promoting exports by Italian companies.
Particular attention was paid to economic and energy cooperation. Kazakhstan is Italy’s third-largest supplier of oil, accounting for around 13 per cent of Italy’s crude oil imports. In this context, the two Ministers agreed on the importance of the security of energy routes in the Black Sea and the stability of supplies.
With regard to the wide-ranging opportunities for cooperation in strategic sectors – from transport to critical raw materials, and from artificial intelligence to the agri-food sector – Minister Tajani emphasised the importance of continuing to deepen the economic partnership between the two countries. In this context, the Italy-Central Asia Business Forum and the Italy-Kazakhstan Joint Economic Commission, scheduled to take place in the coming weeks, will provide important new opportunities to identify concrete avenues for the development of economic and trade relations.
During their talks, the two Ministers also discussed the war in Ukraine and efforts to bring about an end to hostilities and a path towards a just and lasting peace.
Finally, Tajani reiterated the strategic importance that Italy attaches to Central Asia and expressed his intention to organise a new ministerial meeting with the five countries of the region at short notice, in order to further strengthen dialogue and cooperation.
