Date:
17 November 2015
Meeting with the Consular Representations of Milan and Lombardy
Milan, 17 November 2015 – The meeting "Lombard businesses in the world, the world in Lombardy: meeting with Consular Representations", organised by Confindustria Lombardia and UniCredit in collaboration with the Italian Trade Agency (ICE), was held yesterday at the UniCredit Pavilion in Milan.
Attendees included Confindustria Lombardia President Alberto Ribolla, UniCredit Deputy Regional Manager for Lombardy Enzo Torino, ICE Central-North Area Director Marinella Loddo, Dean of the Consular Corps in Milan Massimo Baggi, and Vincenzo De Luca, Director for the Internationalisation of the Economic System at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“Lombardy is a region with an international vocation, hosting 4,721 foreign-owned enterprises and 47% of all multinationals present in Italy. Our exports account for approximately 30% of the national total, with more than 40% destined for non-EU markets; furthermore, ours is the best region in Southern Europe for attractiveness. Lombard businesses also maintained strong performance during the economic crisis: since 2009, exports have recorded a 15% growth rate compared to pre-crisis levels. This high level of internationalisation also extends outwards: our companies have foreign investments, joint ventures, and commercial offices all over the world. All of this is the result of the high competitiveness of the entire Lombard system,” stated Confindustria Lombardia President Alberto Ribolla.
“However, there is still much work to be done to ensure the internationalisation of our businesses grows and becomes stable. With this in mind, Confindustria Lombardia, together with all its territorial associations, has outlined a strategy in the #Lombardia2030 strategic plan aimed at promoting the Lombard industrial system and its many areas of excellence, such as manufacturing, to consolidate new practices and increase foreign trade for the benefit of both parties. Today’s meeting with the Consular Representations is part of this path of growth and development,” concluded Alberto Ribolla.
“UniCredit has long believed in the diversification of target markets and invests in its own internationalisation and that of its client companies. Based on business needs, UniCredit provides specific responses to internationalisation issues by making its expertise and professionalism available through training programmes, counterparty research, and market/country information, in addition to an international network distributed across 50 countries, in 17 of which it is present with a commercial bank rooted in the local area, serving over 40 million clients,” states Enzo Torino, Deputy Regional Manager for Lombardy at UniCredit. “It is for this reason that we are pleased to host today’s meeting, which brings together long-standing partners such as Confindustria and ICE, alongside the Institutional Representatives of foreign countries—markets of interest for the main investments of Lombard companies and potential investors in Lombardy’s excellent enterprises.”
The meeting provided an opportunity to present the excellence of the Lombard production system to the Consular Representations based in Milan and Lombardy, to discuss the internationalisation activities developed by the Ministry of Economic Development in collaboration with ICE, and to illustrate the foreign markets of greatest interest to our companies.
During the conference, the results of the Internationalisation Survey in Lombardy*, conducted by Confindustria Lombardia, were also released.
The main findings of the survey are as follows:
- Member companies have a high rate of internationalisation: over 70% of the sample has foreign relations, exporting an average of 30% of their turnover;
- From a sectoral perspective, the companies with the greatest stable presence abroad are in the mechanical (44%), chemical and pharmaceutical (41%), and transport equipment (35%) sectors;
- Among the most frequent long-term internationalisation methods are the presence of commercial branches abroad and the establishment of agreements and contracts with local companies;
- The main countries where companies intend to export over the next 3 years are Germany, the USA, France, China, and Russia.
- The priorities for which companies are requesting strong support from business associations are: Research into foreign counterparties (44% of member companies); organisation of Business-to-Business meetings; consultancy on foreign contracts and international taxation (34%); and consultancy on customs issues (34%).
Confindustria Lombardia and all its territorial associations present at the meeting offer dedicated services and a series of specialist tools to meet the internationalisation needs of businesses.
The conference was attended by diplomatic and consular representatives from the following countries: Albania, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Chile, South Korea, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Ghana, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Kuwait, Latvia, Mexico, Principality of Monaco, Namibia, Panama, United Kingdom, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, Spain, United States, Switzerland, Turkey, and Hungary.
*Survey conducted on a sample of 900 member companies between 2014 and 2015
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