Trieste, 17 July 2017 – The presentation of the Annual Report “Cina 2017. Scenari e prospettive per le imprese” , which includes researches, risk analysis and the short to medium-term prospects for the Asian country,  was held  on July 17^th, in Trieste, at the Palace of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region.

The event, which was promoted by UNIDO IPO Italy, Friuli Venezia Giulia Region and Fondazione Italia Cina, took place in the framework of the project “SMEs 4 Business Development China & Cuba”, which aims to promote and facilitate the creation of partnership between the companies of Friuli Venezia Giulia, the province of Shanghai and the Republic of Cuba.

The Head of UNIDO ITPO Italy, Mrs. Diana Battaggia, opened the presentation by recalling the important bilateral meeting between President of Friuli Venezia Giulia, Ms. Debora Serracchiani, and President of Invest Shanghai, Mr. Sun Xinhua. This meeting was organized by UNIDO on July 14^th, during the “Italy-China Economic Cooperation trade Forum”. On this occasion, the two parties agreed to sign a Memorandum of Understanding to launch concrete joint projects in some economic sectors of mutual interest, such as: regional port, infrastructure and technological and scientific innovation. 

During the presentation, Ms. Debora Serracchiani pointed out how important is the strategic initiative “One Belt one Road”, launched by the Chinese government and the fact that Friuli Venezia Giulia has been the only Region that participated at this initiative with the Prime Minister, Paolo Gentiloni. This project has as objective the integration of Asia and Europe, through a multibillion dollar investment in maritime and land infrastructure connections, in order to guarantee the movement of goods and technologies. For this purpose, Mrs. Serracchiani explained that the Port of Trieste and of Genoa, according to Chinese government are the only strategic terminals for the new Silk Route. This Beijing consideration has grown also after the implementation of the free port of Trieste, which open the doors to new opportunities of investment in the only extra tariff area within Europe.

The presentation of Ms. Pan Yan has been remarkable, she has in fact illustrated the interesting opportunities and the viable options of collaboration between China and Friuli Venezia Giulia.

In this context, UNIDO ITPO Italy in collaboration with Friuli Venezia Giulia Region and Fondazione Italia Cina have promoted the creation of partnership between SMEs, regional Cluster and companies of the Province of Shanghai, in order to encourage  commercial cooperation and  investments, favoring in this way Friuli Venezia Giulia business fabric.