Events

Italy, Rome

The official visit of the Head of State to Italy began with a meeting with President Sergio Mattarella.

The talks between the leaders were preceded by an official meeting ceremony. At the Quirinal Palace in honour of the arrival of Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the Kazakhstan flag was raised and the anthems of the two countries were played. After a welcome report by the Honour Guard Commander, the presidents introduced each other to the members of the official delegations.

Emphasizing that this was his first visit to Italy in the capacity of the President of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev thanked Sergio Mattarella for his warm welcome. The Head of State noted the longstanding and mutually beneficial relations with the Italian Republic - a reliable partner of Kazakhstan in the European Union.

"Today I look forward to talking about issues of common interest, including the development of economic ties, strengthening relations aimed at the prosperity of the two countries, and ways to address pressing international issues," Tokayev said.

The President further stated that Italy is one of Kazakhstan's major trading partners in Europe.

"The volume of mutual trade has exceeded 14.5 billion dollars. We expect our countries' trade turnover to reach 20 billion dollars in the foreseeable future.  At the same time, Italy is one of the main investors in Kazakhstan's economy. About 300 Italian companies operate in our market, including Eni, a flagship company. We very much praise achievements of our bilateral relations. We intend to continue to create favourable conditions for their work. At the same time, it needs to give additional impetus to the development of cooperation not only in the economic area, but also in many other areas, such as culture and tourism. I am confident that cooperation between Kazakhstan and Italy will be very fruitful,"  the Head of State declared.

Focusing on multilateral cooperation in such organizations as the United Nations (UN) and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the two leaders highlighted the importance of enhancing the system of international relations and global security based on the principles of the UN Charter.

They discussed solid prospects for cooperation between Kazakhstan and Central Asia with the EU in transport and logistics and in particular for the development of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR).

Tokayev congratulated President Mattarella on Italy’s accession to the position of G7 chairmanship and wished him success in implementing the G7 agenda.

On his turn, Mattarella expressed Italy’s interest in Kazakhstan’s course of political and social modernization and thanked Tokayev for his visit to Rome, saying that the negotiations would give additional impetus to bilateral economic, political, cultural and humanitarian ties.

Kassym-Jomart Tokayev thanked his Italian colleague for the meeting in a warm and friendly atmosphere and conveyed to him an invitation to visit Kazakhstan, which was gratefully accepted.

Then the presidents continued negotiations in the format of a business lunch.