An Italian business delegation left for Kazakhstan on a fact-finding mission set to run from 9 to 12 November, with an eye on opportunities for collaboration offered by the Kazakh market in the sectors of apparel, agri-industry and building materials. The initiative, organized by the Ministry of Economic Development, Agenzia ICE and Confindustria, will be led by Deputy Minister Carlo Calenda.
Economic Forum
The mission will begin in Astana, where an economic forum will involve institutional representatives of Italy and Kazakhstan, followed later in the afternoon by a B2B session. Another session will follow the next day in Almaty.
As the organisers pointed out, over the 20 years since its independence, Kazakhstan has had one of the world’s highest growth rates – averaging 8% – second only to China and Qatar. While the country’s 2013 5.9% rise in GDP was mainly fueled by private consumption (+10%), the construction sector continues to flourish locally, along with the Italian fashion sector. Economic diversification policies are helping the development of the food-processing industry to become one of the country’s priority sectors.
