The leading European independent newspaper, New Europe, published an article “Italy’s Foreign Affairs Undersecretary discusses the importance of strengthening ties with Uzbekistan”.

As Manlio Di Stefano, Italy’s Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs, noted in an interview with an Italian journalist, in recent years, Italy has taken substantial steps towards deepening its ties with Tashkent on various issues like connectivity, energy, as well as education.

“There are many areas of possible collaboration. Uzbekistan is, in fact, a country with a great history and enormous potential. Its ancient cities – Samarkand, Bukhara, Khiva, to mention the most famous – their natural beauty is attracting increasing numbers of tourists. This is certainly a heritage that needs to be enhanced and preserved, areas in which Italy has know-how that is recognized worldwide. In addition, Uzbekistan is interested in cooperation with Italy in the field of education, science and technology. As early as 2009, the Polytechnic of Turin established in Tashkent one of the most renowned Universities of Science and Technology in Uzbekistan, achieving world-class training and research standards” said the Italian diplomat.

To the question of what opportunities could Uzbekistan offer to Italian companies, Manlio Di Stefano noted that Uzbekistan is showing great interest in the know-how of Italian companies and in recent years we have seen an intensification of business cooperation, also in relation to the extensive program of internal reforms launched by President (Shavkat) Mirziyoyev, aimed at liberalizing the economic system. 

“The sectors of energy, construction and transport, industry, with particular regards to agro-food, textiles, metal processing, gold and stone, intensive agriculture and livestock breeding, and the restoration of architectural heritage, are particularly promising”, he said. – Our operators are very interested in contributing to the development of the Uzbek production system with technologically advanced products that meet the highest standards of environmental protection. The tools we have at our disposal to foster relations between the companies of our production systems are many. In this regard, I remember with satisfaction the ‘Italy-Uzbekistan Business Forum’, held virtually in December 2020, with ‘business networking’ sessions between Italian and Uzbek companies, for a total of 173 meetings.

UzA