Kazakhstan sees another $307.5 million in export potential. Astana wants to expand sales to Italy beyond the traditional trade structure, targeting metallurgy, petrochemicals, food, chemicals and mechanical engineering as the two countries look for new areas of industrial cooperation, DKNews.kz reports.
Minister of Trade and Integration of Kazakhstan Arman Shakkaliyev discussed the next stage of bilateral economic relations with Maria Tripodi, Italy’s Undersecretary of State for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, during her working visit to Kazakhstan.
Kazakhstan wants to broaden its exports to Italy
Italy remains one of Kazakhstan’s major trade and economic partners in Europe. The latest talks, however, focused not simply on increasing turnover but on changing its structure through a wider range of Kazakh exports.
Shakkaliyev said Kazakhstan had identified substantial room for additional supplies to the Italian market.
«Italy is one of Kazakhstan's key trade and economic partners in Europe. At the same time, we see significant potential for expanding the structure of mutual trade. According to our estimates, the additional potential for supplies of Kazakh products to the Italian market amounts to approximately 307.5 million US dollars. This primarily concerns products of metallurgy, petrochemistry, food and chemical industries, as well as mechanical engineering», – noted Arman Shakkaliyev.
The potential identified by Kazakhstan covers several sectors:
- metallurgy;
- petrochemicals;
- food products;
- chemical industry;
- mechanical engineering.
For Kazakhstan, expanding these categories could help increase the role of non-commodity exports in trade with one of its largest European partners.
Trade reached $16.9 billion in 2025
The scale of the existing economic relationship is already significant.
Bilateral trade between Kazakhstan and Italy amounted to $16.9 billion in 2025. In January–July 2026, turnover reached $9.79 billion.
Kazakhstan accounted for the overwhelming majority of that flow:
- Kazakhstan’s exports to Italy — $9 billion;
- imports from Italy — $789.6 million.
The figures also illustrate why the next stage of cooperation is increasingly focused on diversification, industrial projects and technology rather than simply increasing overall trade volumes.
Italy offers technology and logistics expertise
The Italian side noted the stable dynamics of bilateral economic relations and expressed interest in expanding cooperation.
Technology transfer and logistics were singled out as areas where Italy could contribute to Kazakhstan’s economic diversification and infrastructure modernization.
«We highly value the level of relations between Italy and Kazakhstan and the positive dynamics of bilateral trade. Italy is ready to share its technologies and experience to support the diversification of Kazakhstan's economy. A separate area is logistics. We are ready to facilitate the exchange of experience and technologies for further modernization of this sphere», – noted Maria Tripodi.
This shifts the agenda beyond conventional imports and exports. Industrial expertise, technologies and logistics could become important elements of future joint projects, particularly as Kazakhstan seeks to develop higher-value production and strengthen transport links with European markets.
Astana forum to bring businesses together
The talks come ahead of the Central Asia + Italy business platform forum in Astana.
The event is expected to bring together representatives of business and government to discuss new opportunities in trade, investment and economic cooperation, as well as direct partnerships between companies.
For Kazakhstan, the immediate task is to turn the estimated $307.5 million export potential into actual contracts and market access. For Italy, the growing agenda creates opportunities to expand its role in Kazakhstan through technology, industrial cooperation and logistics.
Earlier, we reported on how Kazakhstan and Italy were preparing to deepen their economic partnership. In February 2026, DKNews.kz wrote that bilateral trade had approached $17 billion and that the two countries were discussing new areas of cooperation. Trade turnover between Kazakhstan and Italy has approached $17 billion
