CICC Meets with Chongqing Municipality Commission of Commerce, Feb 10th 2022

On February 10th 2022, a bilateral meeting was held between the China-Italy Chamber of Commerce (CICC) and the Chongqing Municipality Commission of Commerce (MCOC), at the meeting hall of MCOC.

The CICC was led by the Chairman Mr Paolo Bazzoni and the Board Member in South-West Mr Gianluca Luisi. Chongqing Municipality Commission of Commerce was represented by Mr Zhang Yongwu, Director General of MCOC, accompanied by Mr Song Gang, Vice Director of MCOC, Mr Gao Wen, Director of European America Division, Mrs Yu Xiaoling, Director of Consumption Promotion Department, Mr Liu Kan, Director of Foreign Trade Promotion Department, Mr Tang Yong, Principal of Foreign Investment and Affairs Department.

The purpose of the meeting was to set out priorities of cooperation between the Parties for the year of 2022, through joint initiatives to promote bilateral trade and investment opportunities between Italy and China.

Chairman Mr Bazzoni of CICC opened the meeting with a complete introduction of the Chamber and its development trend that has registered remarkable growth in terms of both initiatives and membership base. He mentioned that in 2021, the CICC had a strong growth year with 7 offices now active in China, all aiming to provide a full range of services targeting Italian and Chinese enterprises. In addition, the number of members has also made a qualitative leap, reaching 838 by December 31st, 2021, therefore doubling its membership base since the last mandate. It is hoped that the vigorous development of CICC will help the development of bilateral ties in Chongqing, and generally in Southwest China. Chairman Bazzoni also invited the Director General Zhang to arrange a delegation of enterprises to join the Italy-China Business Dialogue this year at its second edition, an event organized together with the Italian Embassy and Consulates in China, Italian Trade Agency and Sino Italian institutional and business representatives.

Then, Mr Zhang Yongwu made a brief introduction of the economic and social development of Chongqing. Mr Zhang mentioned that on July 19th, 2021, Chongqing, under the approval of the State Council, was selected among the 5 pilot cities to implement the construction of international consumption centers (with the others being in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Tianjin). Chongqing is the only city selected in Southwest of China, and the only one to be in the inland territories. In addition, Chongqing has also been leveraging on its other policies, such as the free trade zone pilot zone and the cross-border e-commerce zone, while experimenting institutional opening-up policies as to offer better service and opportunities to foreign enterprises. Therefore, CMCC also hopes to strengthen cooperation with Italy to grow international trade as well as bilateral investments. 

Later, Mr Gianluca Luisi, as the representative of the southwest of China, made a comprehensive analysis of the situation in the region by introducing the projects and events in previous years in southwest China and the projects of 2022 yearly events. He proposed to hold a "China (Southwest) - Italy Business Dialogue" in Chongqing to explore and discuss the development opportunities of Italian enterprises in Southwest China, choosing the main fields of cooperation between the two countries.

At the end of the meeting, as to provide platforms for bilateral dialogue between Italian and Chinese enterprises and institutions, the Parties reached an agreement about the possibility of launching other initiatives throughout the year: a Round Table together with the Italian business enterprises already located in Chongqing, as well as specific projects in the fields of innovation in e-mobility automotive and heavy-industry; f&b; industrial design; sport industries; healthcare and other selected areas of cooperation.

The China-Italy Chamber of Commerce shall maintain a stable and valuable partnership with Chongqing Municipality Commission of Commerce to support more Italian enterprises to create diversified opportunities in the dynamic territory of Chongqing.

The CICC Team