The Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Hon. Manlio Di Stefano, is departing on a mission to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, aimed at relaunching bilateral partnerships with key Countries in the region which, in the last few years, has acquired growing geopolitical and commercial importance as well as in the energy sector.
On top of the Undersecretary’s visit agenda in Kazakhstan will be the meetings with the Kazakh Minister of Foreign Affairs Mukhtar Tileuberdi and with the Minister of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry, Askar Zhumagaliyev.
In addition, the Undersecretary will open the first Italian-Kazakh Business Forum and the 4th edition of the Italian Cuisine Week in the World in Kazakhstan.
In Kyrgyzstan, he is scheduled to meet with the Deputy Foreign Ministers Nuran Niyazaliyev and Azizbek Madmarov, as well as with the representatives of the Ministry of Economy and of the Chamber of Commerce.
The mission falls within the scope of the programme to relaunch political missions to the whole region, which started in November 2018 with the visit to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan and was then followed with the visit to Turkmenistan last March. This process will wind up with the Italy-Central Asia Conference next 13 December, which will be opened by Minister Di Maio and chaired by Undersecretary Di Stefano and will convene at the Farnesina the political representatives of the five Central Asian Countries and officials from international financial institutions, the business community, universities and the world of culture, in a Conference aimed to discuss Italy’s interests in the region with a view to developing a new national strategy in Central Asia.
“Italy – said Undersecretary Di Stefano – is the first European Country that plans to strengthen relations with the whole Central Asia region: it is a strategic area for the development of Euro-Asian connectivity and a region with which we already cooperate in the energy sector. Our intention is to strengthen our presence and open the door for our companies, especially SMEs, which have excellent growth prospects in all the Countries of the area.”
