POST EVENT: CICC Members' Meeting Anhui, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Zhejiang - 3 March 2021, Shanghai

02 March 2021

Dear Members and Friends of CICC,

The China-Italy Chamber of Commerce (CICC) is glad to inform you that the CICC Members' Meeting Anhui, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Zhejiang took place at CICC’s Shanghai Office on March 3rd, 2021. About 60 Members offline and online attended the meeting, which was an occasion to assess CICC recent activities and discuss some new projects.

During his welcome speech, Mr. Michele Cecchi, Consul General of Italy in Shanghai, pointed out that the cooperation between China and Italy represented a success factor in the gradual recovery of all business sectors, following the challenges brought by the outburst of COVID-19 pandemic. Working with Chinese partners proved to play a vital role for the whole Italian System's achievement. Furthermore, he illustrated the role of Italy within the recent China’s next five years plan, which will mainly be involved in three new tendencies: fiscal and monetary stimulus, rule of law, and China’s state market equilibrium.

Following, Mr. Paolo Bazzoni, CICC Chairman, provided an insight of CICC’s recent activities, focusing on the importance of expanding CICC's initiatives throughout the whole Chinese territory, in synergy with the local partners. This strategy was pivotal in scouting new business opportunities for CICC's members’ companies. At the same time, the Chairman highlighted the importance of the cooperation - at all levels with the Italian Institutions - in order to gain more importance among the Chinese community.

The meeting followed with the presentation of the 2021’s Activity plan in Zhejiang & Shanghai, provided by Mr. Valtero Canepa, CICC Vice-Chairman in Shanghai.

CICC is especially focusing on the Zhejiang province to establish partnerships with various municipalities, such as Haining, Ningbo, Pinghu, Wenzhou and Jiaxing. Regarding Shanghai, the main goal of this year is to establish a dialogue with the municipality’s leadership. For this reason, on February 26th Mr. Canepa attended the Joint Conference of the Shanghai Foreign Investment Promotion Center and Shanghai Investment Promotion Agency (SIPP), with Madam Zhu Yi, Vice Chairperson of the Municipal Commission of Commerce (SCOFCOM).

Afterward, a presentation of the most upcoming activities of the district was given to the audience: Authentic Italian Table, the First Edition of the Shanghai Appreciation Meeting & Panda D’oro, the second edition of Italian National Pavilion at the China International Industry Fair (CIIF), the Italian Week, seminars/webinars also in synergy with the CICC working groups, networking activities, and so on.

Later on, Mr. Riccardo Campanile, CICC Suzhou Board Member, and Mr. Ermanno Vitali, CICC Shanghai Board Member, joined the meeting introducing the activity plan focused on the area of Suzhou, Nanjing and Wuxi. Mr. Campanile provided a general overview of the upcoming activities of the area within his jurisdiction, such as the International Arbor Day Ceremony in Wujiang on March 12th, and the next seminars and webinars, also in collaboration with the EU SME Centre. Following up, Mr. Vitali announced the organization of the Nanjing - Florence Friendship & Innovative Development in May, to celebrate the twin town link, which started in 1980, between the city of Florence and the city of Nanjing within the framework of the Seventh Centenary of the Death of Dante Alighieri.

The meeting was also an opportunity for Mr. Cristiano Varotti, Head of Shanghai Office - ENIT and Mr. Massimiliano Tremiterra, Trade Commissioner of the Italian Trade Agency in Shanghai, to present respectively ENIT's and Italian Trade Agency's 2021 activities in China.

Mr. Varotti, introduced the 2021 strategy for the promotion of integrated tourism of Italy on the Chinese market and potential cooperation programs with the CICC and Italian brands in terms of digital marketing.

Mr. Tremiterra highlighted the “6 export pact” for the promotion of the Made in Italy abroad, focused on communication, integrated promotion, training and information, e-commerce, trade fairs and subsidized finance.

Mr. Tremiterra focused his speech on the promotion of the agri-food sector in China, a pivotal sector when considering China-Italy economic relations. He announced the participation at the first edition of the Protected Geographical Indication Products Expo (PGIE) 2021, with an Italian Institutional Pavilion representing 26 Italian PGIs.