From oilfields to lecture halls: the many layers of Kazakhstan–Italy ties 

Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Rome in January 2024.

You don’t expect to hear Italian being spoken in a small Kazakh town. 

But a few years ago, I did. 

It was two men bickering over the paperwork they needed to register their industrial equipment business. Knowing the language as I do (courtesy of my years studying in Italy), I stepped in to help.  

Four signatures and three espressos later, the job was done. The easiest €100 I’ve ever earned! 

This was no random encounter, though. 

As I would later find out, nearly 270 Italian companies were registered in Kazakhstan. A hefty chunk of imports from Italy were machinery and electronic components. 

The welter of statistics-laden articles generated by the imminent visit to Kazakhstan of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who is scheduled to stay in Astana for two days from May 29, has provided yet more evidence of the buoyancy of trade and political relations between these two nations. 

This trip has been long in coming. A visit planned in 2023 was nixed because of  floods in the Emilia-Romagna. The death of Pope Francis in April forced another postponement.  

There are two goals on the agenda: Bilateral consultations in Kazakhstan and then a C5+1 summit with regional countries. 

The conversations are likely to be focused and practical.  

When it comes to Kazakhstan, the Italians eschew talk of “shared destinies” or ideological kinship. They are, instead, all about developing pragmatic and stable partnerships. An Italian government communiqué issued after a meeting between Meloni and Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in Rome early last year referred to the “strategic value” of the partnership. 

Pragmatism in megawatts 

Italy is one of Europe’s most energy-dependent economies. It imports around 75% of its energy needs. And Kazakhstan has long been a key supplier of oil, natural gas, and other raw materials. This natural match has underpinned bilateral cooperation since 1992.  

The cornerstone of this relationship is ENI, the Italian energy giant known affectionately as “il cane a sei zampe,” or “the six-legged dog,” a nod to the company logo. Active in Kazakhstan since the 1990s, ENI today plays a major role in the country’s energy landscape, most notably at the Karachaganak and Kashagan fields, where it helps produce tens of millions of barrels of oil and more than 2.5 billion cubic meters of gas annually. 

But the partnership is evolving. In 2024, ENI and KazMunayGas began constructing a 247 megawatt hybrid power station in Zhanaozen, one of Kazakhstan’s most oil-dependent towns. The intention is to provide low-carbon electricity to oil operations. While the project is running slightly behind schedule and expected to be complete in 2026, it remains a landmark in what both sides call a strategic energy partnership. 

Additionally, Eni has signed deals with Samruk-Kazyna, the national wealth fund, and state-run gas company QazaqGaz to expand low-carbon innovation and emissions-reduction tech. 

New hybrid or green projects are a good move beyond a simple exchange of oil for money. For this cooperation to mature, it must create local value, reduce environmental harm, improve labor conditions, and support Kazakhstan’s long-term sustainability. After all, the era of oil won’t last forever. 

People Power: From lecture halls to boardrooms 

If oil laid the foundation, it is people that are giving the partnership meaning. 

There are now 98 inter-university agreements between Kazakh and Italian institutions. Italian universities are actively engaged in major Kazakh academic programs like Bolashak and the “500 Scientists” initiative. Dual degree programs are emerging. In 2024, Kazakh students in Italy launched an association to support newcomers and advocate for more opportunities. 

Still, even as more Kazakh students head to Italy, the process hasn’t always been smooth. In recent years, there have been reports of significant visa delays. Approvals sometimes arrive just days before departure, or even after. These issues are not surprising given growing demand and limited processing capacity, but they are an irritant. 

Broader EU visa facilitation initiatives are now on the agenda. If implemented well, they could bring the two countries even closer. You can hear more on this in our recent podcast with Aleska Simkic, the European Union’s ambassador to Kazakhstan.  

Cultural cooperation is also gaining traction. Italy’s first Cultural Institute in Central Asia opened in Almaty in 2023, bringing concerts, exhibitions, and language programs. A partnership with the Central Institute for Restoration in Rome will soon launch a conservation training program at Kazakhstan’s National Museum in Astana. 

In another quiet but meaningful development, a bilateral agreement was signed last year on World War II military graves. It formalizes cooperation between the two defense ministries to preserve and maintain burial sites of fallen soldiers. These include ethnic Kazakhs who fought in northern Italy, either in the Turkestan Legion or alongside Italian partisans. Their graves, scattered across northern Italian towns, are reminders that even distant histories can bind. 

Tourism, too, is part of the equation. While many Italians still struggle to find Kazakhstan on a map, that is slowly changing. The 2023 launch of direct flights from Milan to Almaty by NEOS Airlines has made travel easier. The number of Kazakh tourists visiting Italy continues to grow every year. So now, instead of two, there are three flights per week. 

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) may well be the connective tissue quietly binding the partnership together. In October, over 50 Kazakh companies joined the first SME-focused trade and investment forum in Milan. They spanned sectors from agriculture and oilfield services to IT and tourism. The event produced eight cooperation agreements. To keep this business-to-business tissue strong, Astana is now hosting the Italy–Kazakhstan Supply Chain Forum, organized by the ACIK Italian-Kazakh Trade Association. 

Driving the Kazakhstan–Italy partnership forward 

But strong relationships do not run on trade alone. What investors and institutions need (and what students, researchers, and small businesses also rely on) is certainty, transparency, and trust. Legal predictability and institutional reliability are not abstract ideals. They are what make partnerships stick. 

And then there is the human element. 

Be it a Kazakh student navigating their first semester in Bologna, or an Italian entrepreneur learning how to do business in Atyrau, it is everyday experiences, not ceremonies or communiqués, that give substance to diplomatic ties.  

There’s no one blueprint for deepening this relationship. But keeping sight of both the practical foundations and the human connections is a good place to start.