ASTANA (TCA) — Last year trade between Kazakhstan and Italy fell by 45 percent due to a decrease in Kazakh exports mainly caused by low oil prices, said Acting Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce of Kazakhstan Ruslan Sultanov, the Atameken National Chamber of Entrepreneurs of Kazakhstan reported.
Today the export of Kazakh oil accounts for 97 percent of the total Kazakh export to Italy.
A delegation of 12 Italian companies representing different industries visited Astana on May 23 and 24. They were looking for importers and distributors in Kazakhstan.
According to Sultanov, Italy accounts for more than 11 percent of Kazakhstan’s foreign trade.
In 2015, the import from Italy to Kazakhstan grew 13.2 percent compared to 2014 and amounted to $1.2 billion.
Over the past 11 years, Italian investments in Kazakhstan have totaled $5.7 billion, he said.
“Today we have a number of Italian manufacturers of products with high added value in the spheres of energy, different types of equipment and in the food sector. We are also interested in the purchase of high-tech Italian equipment. We also discussed supply of Kazakh products to Italy. We could be involved in the production process of Italian companies, providing them with semi-finished products,” Sultanov said.
In his words, the Kazakh business is also interested in establishment of joint ventures with Italy in order to deliver goods for export to third countries. “We are working together to identify businesses that are willing to cooperate. There is an interest from Kazakh furniture companies. Food and textile industries also have potential for this,” he said.
During the visit Kazakhstani and Italian businessmen discussed possible cooperation in the B2B format.
