(Adnkronos) – Italy and Kazakhstan signed eight agreements on Friday that aim to strengthen bilateral strategic cooperation in a raft of key sectors such as energy, trade, investment and resource management, premier Giorgia Meloni and Kazakh president Qasym-Jomart Toqaev said in a joint statement during a landmark visit by Meloni to Astana.
The Italian and Kazakh governments “note with satisfaction that Italy is one of the principle trade and economic partners of Kazakhstan and one of the most important investors in the Kazakh economy,” said the joint statement.
“In this context we announce eight accords worth over four billion euros,” the statement continued.
The bilateral accords include minerals and critical raw materials; innovative energy infrastructure in which field Italian firm Maire- Tecnimont and Kazakh sovereign fund Samruk-Kazyna will jointly develop projects and accelerate Kazakhstan’s green transition; and a partnership to create local production chains between Italian power generation company Ansaldo and Samruk-Kazyna for gas-fired power plants components aimed at boosting local industrial and technological growth.
Other bilateral accords are between Italy’s export credit agency Sace, state lender Cdp and the Kazakh development bank; between Sace and Samruk-Energy to develop commercial relations in the energy sector; between Italy’s trade and investment agency Ice and national company Kazakh Invest to promote and facilitate mutual investments; and between the Oice association of Italian engineering, architecture and technical and economic consultancy firms and the Kazakh water resources ministry to implement a water management cooperation program including through the exchange of good practices.
