Global Exhibition Day to be held in Rome in June

Rome - Following last year's successful debut edition of the Global Exhibitions Day, which included professionals coming from 60 different countries, the industry decided to reconvene in Rome on June 7. ICE, the ItalianTrade Agency, and AEFI (the Italian exhibitions association) announced that during last year's event, UFI - The Global Association for the Exhibition Industry, proposed to set a date to celebrate the exhibitions industry, which highlights the positive impact it can have on employment, economic activities, innovation and local investments.

ICE and AEFI have committed to enhancing this major international event to promote Italian fairs and exhibitions as a tool for economic and employment growth. It will be supported by initiatives to take place at each fair, contributing to the dissemination of the message. Rome's event, entitled "Italian excellence reaches out to the world", will take place over several sessions throughout the day on June 7. The event will open at 10 a.m. on the premises of ICE, the Italian Trade Agency, with a conference entitled "Fairs and the Italian Excellence in the Past and in the Future", with opening addresses by Michele Scannavini, president of ICE, Fabrizio Lucentini, director general for internationalisation and promotion of exchanges of the Economic Development Ministry, and Ettore Riello, president of AEFI.

The programme will follow with a round table on "Italian excellence: history, territory, people, products and the future", which will be attended by the representatives of Fiere Italiane, including Franco Boni (BolognaFiere), Lorenzo Cagnoni (IEG-Italian Exhibition Group), Maurizio Danese (Veronafiere), Giovanni Laezza (Riva del Garda Fierecongressi) as well as Giovanni Sacchi, director of ICE's coordination office for the promotion of the 'Made in Italy' brand. A lecture will follow, with several foreign testimonials from Bruno Colucci, sales director at Carniato Europe, Mike Kirschman, vicepresident at Aecom, and the journalist Clare Benfield, editor at Cafe' Life. It will focus on the importance of Italian fairs on the international scene.

The second edition of the Global Exhibitions Day will continue in the afternoon. It will close with a focus on the theme of "Think Global, Act Local: the value of Italian fairs", introducing the state-of-the-art techniques of Italian local fairs to foreign operators and to the general public. It is scheduled to take place at 5 p.m. in the Hall of the Temple of Adrian, in Rome's Chamber of Commerce.