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Entering the new era of growth

Stefano Campagna, President of IICUAE on elevating the Italian community in UAE

Published: Thu 21 Dec 2023, 11:38 AM

Updated: Tue 9 Jan 2024, 1:40 PM

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Stefano Campagna, President, IICUAE

Stefano Campagna, President, IICUAE

After a year since you took office, how have you seen the development of political and trade relations between Italy and the UAE?

Political and trade relations between Italy and the Uae have improved and grown a great deal in the past year. Thanks must be said for the contribution that the new Ambassador has been able to make to the normalisation of diplomatic relations between the two countries (now at the highest level eer) and a great appreciation must be given to the whole Italy system for having strongly contributed to the growth of trade relations that today see italy ranked first among European partners in terms of level of exports to the emirates.

What perspective do you see for the consolidation of relations with Italian institutions in the local area?

I am very proud to be able to say that relations with the other Italian institutions on the territory of the UAE (Embassy, Consulate, ICE, SACE) are more than excellent with continuous and constant interlocutions, projects carried out together and joint efforts aimed at favouring Italian companies in entering and staying in this territory.

What perspective do you see for the consolidation of relations with business entities and associations (Assocamerestero, Regions, Special Agencies, Chambers of Commerce)?

The pandemic we have experienced recently has led us to diversify our actions and projects offered to Italian companies. This led to the great collaboration with regions and Chambers of Commerce in Italy that collaborate with us and facilitate the possibility of internationalization for Italian companies. For three years now we have been the hub of Regione Lazio through Lazio Innova but we also collaborate effectively with Regione Veneto, Regione Sicilia, Regione Abruzzo and several Italian Chambers of Commerce. I believe that the crisis caused by the pandemic Covid-19 has given us the opportunity (as is often the case) to discover these important new forms of collaboration that I believe we should continue to pursue in the future. As far as Assocamerestero is concerned, we had the pleasure and honour of having the top management (President and Secretary General) in Dubai a little over a month ago during our Gulf International Congress event, and once again we reaffirmed the very strong bond, including a personal one, between our chamber and the association that represents us.

We ask the President of the Italian Chamber of Commerce in the UAE about the importance of the UAE for Italian exports.

The UAE represents a country with a strategic importance for italian companies, just think that the value of exports of Italian companies to the UAE exceeds the value of exports to India ( 10 million versus 1.4 Billion). Having said that, we must also consider that the Emirates, and Dubai in the first place, also represent a strategic point for the transit of goods; in essence, a large percentage of the goods that arrive in dubai do not stop in the Emirates but continue on to the various neighboring countries. The UAE therefore represent, and will certainly continue to represent in the coming years, a very important opportunity for italian companies that decide to increase their presence in foreign markets.

— anam@khaleejtimes.com



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