Italian-Arab Chamber of Commerce a bridge between worlds

(AGI) Rome, Feb 8 - The Joint Italian-Arab Chamber (JIAC) reaffirmed its mission as a bridge and meeting point between Italy and the Arab worlds, aiming to increase and develop trade relations, during an official event on Monday. The watchwords at the event were "sharing, information and training", especially to help small businesses find new opportunities. The JIAC is a non-profit organisation comprising many representatives from industry, the banking system and Italian institutions, including the industrialists' organisation Confindustria, the Italian Trade Agency (ICE), Italian association for companies abroad SIMEST, and credit export agency SACE. It also has support from the Arab side with the most important business groups, officially recognised by the main institutions, including the Arab League, the General Union of Chambers of Commerce for Arab Countries, and ambassadors and diplomats stationed in Rome. The latter also confirmed that, as of Mar. 1 2016, the JIAC, when requested, will be officially authorised to issue certifications and legalisations of documents necessary for business management activities in Arab countries. The set-up was officially presented after the first meeting of the Board of the JIAC on Monday. The Board, chaired by Cesare Trevisani, Vice President and CEO of the Trevi Group, and a previous Vice President of Confindustria, confirmed the four appointments of vice president, two of which are Italian and two Arab. They are Pietro Paolo Rampino (with responsibility for the treasury) and Veneto industrialist Alessandro Vescovini for the Italian side. For the Arab side, the Arab vice presidents are Yousuf Al Maimani from Saudi Arabia and Ahmed Al Midfa of the UAE. The board includes, among others, the Trevi Group, Unicredit, Salini Impregilo, Intesa Sp, Gavio, Techint, Auricchio, Lavazza, Vescovini, Banca Akros, Timex group, Confindustria, ICE, SACE, and SIMEST. Many companies attended the event, with Saipem, Finmeccanica and Enel among the most prominent. "Our slogan is to be a bridge between the Arab world and Italian businesses," said Mr Trevisani. "The first objective is to bring Italian business organisations into contact with the Arab world with a firm and visible presence in all activities that the institutions already carry out. We do not want to be isolated, but to work together: JIAC was created with the ambition to act as a complementary body, carrying out the follow-up actions necessary to ensure that the effort made by the Italian system in recent years has continuity on the ground." He added: "The second objective is to give day-to-day assistance to companies when they need to work in the Arab world. We put them in contact with the network of chambers of commerce, and Italian consultants, in addition to the ambassadors. The third objective is cultural: it is human relationships that develop commercial ones." Thanks to JIAC's extensive network of contacts, Mr Trevisani continued: "Italian companies will be able to count on a day-to-day support for the solution of those small yet great difficulties that sometimes make it impossible to operate in a foreign market. If we think that just 6 percent of our total exports of goods goes to Arab markets, we can understand how we could better utilise the business development potential with these countries, considering the great opportunities for trade and investment in many leading Italian sectors." Paolo Rampino sees the aim as being to "boost relations between Italy and the Arab world. We wanted to heal that small fracture created with the Arab diplomatic world and we succeeded. We want to be complementary to the work of the institutions. What is missing is the follow-up: we are creating real points of reference. An Italian company will be able to have the resident manager on site to refer to using a network of people who are important and representative of the country.".
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