An informal session of the Turkmen-Italian business forum with the participation of Italian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Manlio di Stefano took place in a video conference format on June 19 and on Monday, the Embassy of Italy in Turkmenistan published Italian-Turkmen Business Directory 2020.
Italian Ambassador to Turkmenistan Diego Ungaro wrote in the directory that the statistical data published by Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) in March this year shows the value of bilateral trade between Italy and Turkmenistan for 2019 has grown by 83% compared to 2018, reaching a total of €143.5 million.
In particular, Italy's exports to Turkmenistan recorded a value of €53.1 million, while it imported €90.4 million worth of products from the country.
According to the Business Directory, the main export items reported by the ISTAT are electrical equipment (€17.7 million), machinery (€14.2 million) and rubber and plastic products (€8.4 million). The figures relating to the value of imports show that Italy has mainly purchased unrefined (€71.7 million) and refined (€14.7 million) energy products. The country has also imported textile products (€2.0 million) and chemicals (€1.6 million) from Turkmenistan.
Global COVID-19 pandemic negatively affected the bilateral trade in 2020, the Business Directory says. The preliminary ISTAT data shows that bilateral trade in January-March 2020 amounted to nearly €10.4 million. During the period, Italy exported products worth €8.9 million to Turkmenistan and imported €1.5 million worth of products from the country.
