Rome, 30 September 2020 – With more than 40 participants from both the public and private sector, the webinar “Doing Green Business in Kazakhstan” –  hosted and moderated by UNIDO ITPO Italy on 30 September – discussed opportunities for investments and incentives in the field of sustainable energy and green technologies, in order to facilitate potential partnerships between Italian and Kazakh small and medium enterprises.

Kazakhstan is entering a green energetic transition towards a low-carbon economy, with the goal of decreasing the country’s energetic consumption, improving the management of water resources and increasing the share of alternative, renewable energy sources – such as wind, solar, hydrothermal and hydropower – within its traditional power mix.

Opening with the welcome remarks by Mr. Matteo Petrini, Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of Italy in Nur-Sultan, and concluding with final remarks by Mr. Asset Baisynov, Head of Economic Office at the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan in Rome, the virtual conference featured interventions by several Kazakh panelists: Ms. Zulfiya Suleimenova, Deputy Director of Climate Policy and Green Technologies at the Ministry of Ecology, Geology and Natural Resources of the Republic of Kazakhstan, who introduced opportunities and relevant legal framework in the local green technologies sector; Ms. Aliya Salimzhuarova, Project Manager RES at Kazakh Invest, described the power sector in Kazakhstan, its incentive policies as well as the ongoing waste-to-energy projects; and Mr. Sergey Le, Director of the Department of International Cooperation and Climate Investments at the International Green Technologies and Investment Center (IGTIC), who illustrated IGTIC’s activities, priorities and outlooks within the green technologies industry.

Notably, in order to foster a fruitful exchange of technical expertise and know-how, the online audience actively engaged with the panelists by asking insightful ad-hoc questions. Participants were also encouraged to send further inquiries directly to UNIDO ITPO Italy, as a follow-up activity to the online country presentation.

The event was the second episode of the “Doing Green Business” webinar series organized by UNIDO ITPO Italy in the framework of the project “Fostering international partnerships between companies and/or institutions operating in the energy and environment sectors” funded by the Italian Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea.