Boris Kushhov

On January 19, 2024 the President of Kazakhstan ended his official visit to Italy. During his visit to Italy Kassym-Jomart Tokayev held talks with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, as well as Italian President Sergio Mattarella. During his meetings with his hosts, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev noted the dynamic development of trade between the two countries, which reached $14.5 billion by the end of 2023. He expressed the hope that the figure would increase to $20 billion in the coming years. If that happens, then Italy will account for about 1/6 of all of Kazakhstan’s foreign trade, compared to its present level…

On 22 January 2024, Tajikistan’s President Emomali Rahmon concluded his state visit to Qatar. On that day, he held talks with Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani and the Qatari Minister of Trade and Industry, after which Rahmon held talks with representatives of Qatari business. The Tajik President proposed to his Qatari counterparts the establishment of a joint investment fund as a new mechanism to ensure economic partnership between the two countries. Such bilateral funds are active in Central Asia: examples include the Russian-Kyrgyz Development Fund, the Uzbekistan-Kazakhstan Fund, as well as the investment fund of Kazakhstan and Saudi Arabia…

On December 25, 2023, a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council was held in St. Petersburg. As one of the significant successes of the union last year, the meeting participants noted the conclusion of a free trade zone agreement with Iran on the eve of the meeting. Further development of EAEU ties with this country is expected to play an important role in promoting the continental North-South transport routes: they will play an important role in developing the export potential of the union’s member states, since, apart from the Russian Federation…