B5+ITALY has officially launched in Astana

On September 18, the "Central Asia+Italy" Business Platform Forum took place in Astana, where B5+ITALY was officially launched. The platform has already outlined specific areas for further cooperation: increasing non-commodity exports from Kazakhstan to Italy, launching joint production facilities, developing regional trade and logistics hubs, and expanding direct transport links. The forum was attended by deputy ministers of relevant ministries from Italy, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Tajikistan to Kazakhstan, as well as the Minister of Trade and Integration of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Arman Shakkaliyev. Today, Italy holds a special place in Kazakhstan's foreign trade. It is Kazakhstan's third-largest trading partner globally and the largest among the European Union countries. By the end of 2025, trade turnover between the two countries amounted to 16.9 billion US dollars, of which approximately 15.6 billion US dollars were Kazakh exports. However, the next stage of partnership involves not just increasing trade volumes, but changing its structure. Kazakhstan has identified around 100 commodity items with the p...