President Serdar Berdimuhamedov of Turkmenistan made an official visit to Italy, and during his trip, a major business forum was held in Rome that brought together business representatives from both countries. The event was seen as an important milestone in strengthening the trade, economic, and investment relationship between Turkmenistan and Italy.
Giorgio Cilli, Italy’s Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, kicked things off by calling the forum another significant step in bringing the two countries closer together. He talked about how the Italian government is working hard to help Italian companies compete for the exciting opportunities emerging in Turkmenistan, particularly in energy, infrastructure, manufacturing, defense, and security. He also pointed out that Central Asia is becoming increasingly important for global geopolitics and that Italy has deep ties with the region, including regular consultations with all five Central Asian countries.
The forum clearly demonstrated strong Italian business interest in Turkmenistan’s economic diversification efforts. More than 150 representatives from organizations and businesses in both countries attended the event, which was organized by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Italian Trade Agency, and Turkmenistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Several agreements were signed during the forum, especially in textiles, energy, and cybersecurity.
President Berdimuhamedov told the participants that the main goal of the meeting was to give bilateral ties a real boost through direct business dialogue and create the conditions for taking the partnership to a whole new level. He outlined four strategic goals that shape Turkmenistan’s long-term development and create opportunities for Italian business. First, there’s industrialization, which means transforming the economy from relying on raw materials to building high-tech, knowledge-based production with a green economy approach. Second is diversification, updating industries like chemicals, textiles, agricultural processing, and construction materials. Third, Turkmenistan wants to become a major transport hub connecting East-West and North-South routes with modern logistics infrastructure. And fourth, they’re focused on developing a complete national gas processing industry to produce quality products for international markets.
The President highlighted several strategic areas where he wants to see expanded cooperation. In energy and transit, Turkmenistan is interested in discussing a Western route for energy supplies and invited Italian companies to invest in projects that would supply electricity from Turkmenistan to Europe, including building a massive 1,574 MW power plant on the Caspian Sea. They’re also looking at wind and solar energy cooperation. On logistics and transport, he emphasized both countries’ key role in creating a Caspian-Mediterranean corridor between Asia and Europe, and invited Italian businesses to use the Turkmenbashi port for trans-Caspian transit and help modernize Turkmenistan’s railway network.
For the textile industry, since about a thousand pieces of Italian equipment are already operating in Turkmenistan, the President proposed creating joint ventures for clothing production, where Italian technology and expertise could help develop the entire supply chain and boost exports of finished products. In the financial sector, there’s readiness to facilitate partnership between Italy’s State Export Credit Agency SACE and Turkmen banks to improve the financial and credit system. And in digitalization, there’s huge potential for cooperation in communications, IT, space exploration, and smart cities.
Several Italian company executives confirmed their interest in deepening cooperation. ENI supports the strategy to reduce methane emissions, Leonardo SpA identified Turkmenistan as a key strategic partner in Central Asia, and Italferr highlighted the country’s role as a logistics hub.
After the forum and follow-up sessions, there was a ceremony where a substantial package of bilateral documents was signed for long-term cooperation. These included a memorandum between the foreign ministries on personnel training cooperation, a cultural cooperation agreement between the two governments, and a memorandum between Turkmenistan’s State Committee on Television, Radio Broadcasting and Cinematography and Italy’s RAI broadcasting company. There was also a joint declaration on customs cooperation between the customs services of both countries.
In cybersecurity, a confidentiality agreement and memorandum of understanding were signed between Turkmenistan’s State Cybersecurity Service and Leonardo. The textile industry saw several memorandums signed between Turkmenistan’s Ministry of Textile Industry and four major Italian companies: Marzoli Machines Textile, Itema, MCS dyeing & finishing machinery, and Savio Maccine Tessili. And in energy, a memorandum was signed between Turkmenistan’s Ministry of Energy and Pietro Fiorentini to expand cooperation.
The successful forum and the impressive number of signed agreements showed that both sides are committed to expanding their long-term partnership. The event also featured informal meetings between Italian companies and their Turkmen partners. According to the Italian Trade Agency, in the first half of 2025, total trade with Turkmenistan reached €44.5 million, with Italian exports becoming increasingly diverse and including industrial machinery, transport equipment, chemicals, and technologies for sectors like textiles.