05-02-03 ?We want to solidify our presence in Kazakhstan,? Vittorio Mincato, ENI executive director, said after his meeting with Nursultan Nazarbayev, president of Kazakhstan.
According to V. Mincato, during his meeting with the president of Kazakhstan apart from technical issues they talked about two important aspects of cooperation in oil and gas area: an obligatory observance of ecological requirements and training of young personnel.

Commenting on the transportation of Kazakhstani oil, particularly about alternatives to Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), V. Mincato observed that "several possible routes must be considered. Currently, the issue of Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline construction is reviewed, but there are other ways, especially, Russian transportation systems".
About the possibility of a usage of Iranian direction, V. Mincato said that "currently we concentrate our attention on BTC, CPC and the Russian system". V. Mincato also observed that "until now there have not been any problems with Kazakhstani party regarding partnership relations and investment climate".

As it was reported earlier, the biggest activity on Kazakhstani market was shown by Italian companies, related with the fuel and energy complex of Kazakhstan. Among them Agip ?C? (one of the participants of Karachaganak project development), Comerint, ???/Saipem, Di Angeli Industries.
The technological service and engineering company Comerint projects an establishment of a centre for the training of oil and gas workers. This project is financed by European Union. Upon a request from ???/Saipem, ENI concern member, an assistance in the establishment of a drilling joint venture in RoK is provided.

ENI-Agip was one of the first companies, which showed its interest in the cooperation with Kazakhstan. Today the company participates in three projects -- Karachaganak, Agip ?C? and CPC.
In February 2001 a meeting of shareholders of the international consortium ??I?C elected Agip as the sole operator of North Caspianproject (14.3 %).