CICC's Chairman Bazzoni at the Made In Italy Summit of Il Sole 24Ore

On October 12th, the President of the China-Italy Chamber of Commerce (CICC) and Member of the Board of Assocamerestero, Paolo Bazzoni, participated on the last day of the “Made in Italy Summit” organized by il Sole24 Ore and Financial Times in collaboration with SkyTG24.

Central themes of the forum were exports and the international competitiveness of Italian companies and the leading sectors of Made in Italy: fashion and luxury, design, food, boating, automotive and tourism.

Bazzoni started by explaining the current situation that Italian companies in China are experiencing, emphasizing the huge change that the country has been facing in the last few years: “We are in a phase of stagnation, especially in the sectors that have always driven the Chinese economy, such as infrastructure and investment in heavy industry. The economy has come to a standstill while we wait for policies that will help these sectors which are the drivers of the Chinese market” he said. “Right now there is a lot of caution but no negativity, a sort of re-shaping of the strategies and positioning of our companies in order to restart in creating value as they did in the past”.

Afterwards, President Bazzoni highlighted what truly distinguishes Made in Italy in this important but complex market: quality. This characteristic must be maintained at its highest level, especially now that competitiveness with local Chinese players has increased: “We must have zero tolerance on quality and remain in the top range in order to generate more value” said the CICC President.

In conclusion, during the Forum's Q&A session, Bazzoni emphasised the importance of synergy between local resources, strategies and operational plans to insert an Italian company into the Chinese market.

He then reported some key points of the strategy that the China-Italy Chamber of Commerce is implementing to allow Italian companies to integrate within a market as culturally different as the Chinese one, among the most important: having direct communication with the key decision makers of the companies through the opening of many branches in the various municipalities and guaranteeing quality services and guidance to companies from different sectors through the creation of working groups (clusters of companies operating in the same product area). This allowed the chamber to grow and gain authority among the various institutions.

Among the guests who participated in the forum were Fabrizio Fontana, Board member and global communication director of Fontana Group, Stefano Bellucci, head of Global Transaction Banking Service of BPER Banca, Giuliano Noci, pro-rector of the Chinese Polytechnic of Milan and Alessandro Terzulli, chief economist of Sace.

Click here to download the full video interview.

You can find the full event here.