Coverage of the Italian Delegation Visit to Jeddah 4-5 March 2014

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1 Coverage of the Italian Delegation Visit to Jeddah 4-5 March 2014 Date 1/3 4/3 5/3 Headline Italian trade delegation seeks energy and health business. Italy becomes first Saudi trade partner in Europe with $15.2bn volume. Italian firms explore opportunities for hot industries in the Kingdom d= Newspaper Saudigazette

2 Italian trade delegation seeks energy and health business RIYADH: ABDUL HANNAN TAGO Published Saturday 1 March 2014 A high-level Italian trade delegation comprising 150 businesspeople from 75 companies is due to arrive in Riyadh on Monday to seek business in the energy and health sectors. According to a statement issued by the Italian Embassy, the delegation would be led by representatives of the government, the president of the Italian Trade Agency in Rome, and officials from the Italian Manufacturing and Services Companies Organization. The Saudi Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the Ministry of Health, King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy, the Council of Saudi Chambers and the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) have helped to organize the visit. The visit would help cement long-term business relations with Saudi companies, the embassy stated. Last year, Saudi Arabia celebrated 80 years of diplomatic relations with Rome during the Saudi-Italian Forum. During that meeting, the Deputy Foreign Minister Lapo Pistelli said that the two countries have robust political and economic relations. He said Saudi Arabia was the leading economy in the Gulf region and a point of reference for European countries and the United States. The Saudi-Italian Business Forum will be held in Riyadh at the Council of Saudi Chambers on March 3 followed by business-to-business meetings between Italian and Saudi delegates. On March 4, there will be a workshwop on clean technologies and networking between Italian and Saudi delegates at a local hotel. There will be another workshop on health care and networking at the Ministry of Health in Riyadh. On March 5, the delegations will hold business-to-business meetings at the JCCI.

3 Italy becomes first Saudi trade partner in Europe with $15.2bn volume Paolo Zegna, president of Italian International Affairs Committee of Confederation of Italian Industries (Confindustia), speaks at the event. RIYADH: ABDUL HANNAN TAGO ARAB NEWS STAFF Published Tuesday 4 March 2014 Saudi Arabia has urged Italian businessmen to take advantage of its investment opportunities and the facilities available across the Kingdom. This was stressed during a meeting between Saudi entrepreneurs and a visiting Italian high-level trade delegation on Monday at the Council of Saudi Chambers (CSC). The meting discussed business partnership in infrastructure, health care and clean technologies. The three-day trip of the visiting delegation is headed by the Italian International Affairs Committee of Confederation of Italian Industries (Confindustia) Paolo Zegna and top Italian business associations, banks and institutions. Saudi Arabia is the key partner in the Gulf region for our business system; Saudi Arabia and Italy have strong foundation of trust to be built on and today we are ready to begin a new concrete chapter of these relationships, said Zegna in his address. He said: Saudi Arabia today is taking unprecedented steps to spend and diversify its economy into new knowledge-based industries. We strongly believe that the Italian companies have the expertise and resources to help Saudi Arabia reach its ambitious development goals.

4 Most of all, the sectors we chose are targets of our initiatives infrastructure, health care and clean technologies he said, adding that the Italian contractors are wellknown in the world being active in many countries with an international turnover exceeding 8.7 billion euros. Regarding the health system, he added that Italy was ranked sixth in the world in Almost 80 percent of Italy's manufactured products in the field of medical devices are exported. Our experience in clean tech can be associated with Italian design and long lasting experience, he said. Italian cutting-edge technologies are a mix of science, urban integration and human wellbeing. According to him, his country is ready to be part of huge projects Saudi Arabia is planning to invest in. Referring to creating jobs for young Saudis, Zegna said only a diversified growing economy would be able to absorb them into the work force. The meeting at the CSC was attended by its Chairman Abdullah Al-Mobty, deputy minister of commerce and Industry Fahad Abuhimed and Deputy Governor of Saudi Arabia General Investment Authority (SAGIA) Faisal Bafarat. Italian Ambassador Mario Boffo, who talked on behalf of his country s deputy minister of economic development Carlo Calenda, was also present. Al-Mobty stated that Italy is the first trade partner of Saudi Arabia in Europe, with $15.2 billion trade in Of this, $10.5 billion represents Italian imports from the Kingdom and $4.7 billion Italian exports to the Kingdom. According to Al-Mobty, Italian investment in the Kingdom amounted to $2.9 billion, while 80 Italian companies operate in Saudi Arabia in various fields of economic activity. He said, the two parties recently signed seven agreements on economic and technology cooperation and these have resulted in the establishment of Italian companies in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia now attracts regional and international investments because of its security, political stability and booming economy, Al- Mobty noted. Al-Mobty called on Italian businessmen to take advantage of huge investment opportunities in Saudi Arabia. The Kingdom has a healthy environment for investment. He asked them to make use of the facilities and incentives offered by the Kingdom to investors, stressing the common desire to shift from the trade partnership with Italy to an industrial partnership firm based on the conversion technology and knowledge. The Saudi Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the Ministry of Health, King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy, the CSC and the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) have together organizes the Italian delegation's visit. "The visit will help cement long-term business relations with Saudi companies," the embassy stated. The Saudi-Italian Business Forum was held in Riyadh at the CSC on Monday (March 3) followed by business-to-business meetings between Italian and Saudi delegates. On Tuesday, there will be a workshop on clean technologies and networking between Saudi and Italian delegates at a local hotel. There will be another workshop on health care and networking at the Ministry of Health in Riyadh. On Wednesday, the delegation will hold business-to-business meetings at the JCCI.

5 Saudigazette Italian firms explore opportunities for hot industries in the Kingdom Last updated: Wednesday, March 05, :07 PM Italian Consul General Simone Petroni during his welcoming speech at the Hilton Hotel in Jeddah. Selma Roth Saudi Gazette JEDDAH A delegation of no less than 67 Italian companies were in the Kingdom this week to explore business opportunities in the fields of clean technology, healthcare, and infrastructure. The trip had been jointly organized by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Economic Development, the Confederation of Italian Industries (Confindustria), and the Italian Institute for Foreign Trade (ICE/ITA). Annalisa Bisson, head of European and International Affairs at Confindustria, said the clean technology and health care sectors had been chosen, because they are hot topics in the Kingdom. The Italian companies, of which 31 are working in the clean technology and 22 in the health care sector, were mainly small and medium enterprises (SMEs), while the 14 infrastructure companies were large enterprises, because in this country there is no room for small companies in infrastructure, Bisson said.

6 The delegation first visited Riyadh, where they attended a forum and B2B (business to business) sessions at the Council of Saudi Chambers. The Italian infrastructure companies then had a roundtable with some of the major infrastructure companies based in Riyadh to explore opportunities for cooperation. Some companies already have cooperation or even a plant here, such as Italcementi, Bisson pointed out. Meanwhile, the healthcare companies visited the Ministry of Health, whereas the clean technology companies had a meeting at King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (KACARE). For the health care I learnt that there is a gap to fill, because the country doesn t have enough hospitals, beds, and assistance for the whole population, so they have a plan to build new hospitals, said Bisson, explaining that the Ministry of Health here needs all kinds of services, from building hospitals to the management, and from equipment to doctors. As far as the clean technology companies are concerned, we came here also with solar energy and renewable energy companies. There are big opportunities, because there is a great interest from this country to switch from petrol-based to renewable energies, the head of European and International Affairs said. According to her, in the last 10 years Italy experienced a boom in the clean technology sector as a result of generous subsidies, which included the development of major investments and new patents. Currently, we have a lot of Italian renewable energy companies in the Balkan, South Africa, and India, she said. In Jeddah, Italian Consul General Simone Petroni welcomed the delegation in addition to a selection of Saudi businesspeople with a dinner organized in cooperation with the Italian Business Group, highlighting the importance of the city on the Red Sea, which is home to the Saudi government several months a year and which yearly receives 8 million Haj and Umrah pilgrims. The city grew from 1 million inhabitants in the 1990s to currently 3.4 million, and this number is expected to reach 6 million in 20 years, prompting the Saudi authorities to develop a strategy for the city that began in In this context, business between the two countries has also gained momentum in the last few years, culminating in a Memorandum of Cooperation between the Italian Business Group and the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry in July last year. As far as I can see, this country is full of opportunities, also for small and medium companies, which are the backbone of the Italian entrepreneur system, Alberto Baban, president of Piccola Industria (small industries) at Confindustria, said in his speech. The country currently has some 3.5 million micro companies (with five or fewer employees) as well as half a million SMEs. Despite that, Bashar Jabban, president of the Italian Business Group, said it is difficult for Italian SMEs to do business in the Kingdom: The Italian Business Group is working in cooperation with the Italian consulate to see how we can assist Italian small and medium enterprises in giving them more opportunities in this market, such as by associating them.

7 He believed the Italian representation in the Kingdom should deal with the government here by forming a bigger entity from small companies or joint ventures to boost business between the two countries even further. On a government level something could be agreed, but on a single, private level it is not easy. In this regard, Petroni remarked during his speech at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) on Wednesday: We need to work together, with public institutions of both countries and above all with the maximum involvement of Italian and Saudi private sector. The delegation spent their last day in the Kingdom holding B2B meetings with Saudi counterparts at the JCCI. The Italian consul general was confident the B2B meetings were merely a starting point for further activities and achievements, wishing that all of us together, public institutions and companies, Saudis and Italians, will be able to achieve a vision for the future of our countries.