Rome-Bologna, 1-4 March 2016 - A delegation of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority– SMEDA, the most important Pakistani agency supporting SMEs, visited Italy supported by UNIDO ITPO Italy in order to explore Italy’s industrial environment and scout future collaboration opportunities.

The aim of these meetings was to present the potential of Pakistan and SMEDA services to Italian stakeholders in accessing the Pakistani market and finding local counterparts. On the other hand, the visit provided SMEDA with a detailed vision of the Italian entrepreneurship: delegates received the latest information concerning specific Italian associations and companies, learned more about the functioning of the Business Incubator and also received an introduction to financial schemes in Italy, in particular focusing on SMEs.

During the Study Tour the Delegation met in Rome the President of ITA - Italian Trade Agency,  Mr. Riccardo Monti, as well as other relevant institutions like:  Lazio Innova Spa ; SIMEST; Confindustria and the Casaccia Research Centre of ENEA, where it was illustrated the Concentrated Solar Power technology, as well as, bioenergy and biofuels, and nanotechnology, with a special eye on possible applications to and partnerships with Pakistani SMEs.

The mission continued to Bologna where they met the Emilia Romagna Region; Unioncamere Emilia Romagna and Conserve Italia Group, an Italian leader cooperative in fruit, vegetables and tomatoes processing, well known in Italy through their brands Valfrutta, Yoga, Derby Blue, Jolly Colombani, Cirio  and Juver .