Giosafat Rigano (right), Italian Trade Commissioner, Italian Trade Agency at the Embassy of Italy, Doha; with Antonello Ciambriello, Head of International Office at the Italian Co-Operative Confederation; speaking to the media at a briefing held at the W Hotel in Doha yesterday.
Italian companies are looking to share their global expertise in the field of environment protection, agro-businesses, construction and social & healthcare sector with Qatar, a visiting Italian trade delegation told The Peninsula yesterday.
The delegation, led by Italian Trade Commissioner Giosafat Rigano and Italian Cooperative Confederation’s international office head Antonello Ciambriello, said they are also keen on partnering with the newly-opened Hamad Port. “One of the Italian companies has already won a bid in July last to develop a food processing unit in the Hamad Port. We are looking to create a special hub for the food processing within the port”, Rigano said.
The trade volume between Qatar and Italy currently stands more than $1bn for the first half of 2017. “This is a 11 percent increase compared to the same period in 2016 .” We hope this figure will further go up going forward”, he said.
Ciambriello said the Italian Co-operative Confederation represents 43,000 enterprises in Italy. The combined revenue of these enterprises stands at €140bn. The trade body can offer cutting-edge solutions to Qatar’s various sectors including environment protection, social health sector, agro-businesses, and construction sector. “Our mission is to promote cooperation between Italian companies and Qatari entities. Italian companies are able to export products and services of very high quality.
The aim of our mission is to explore and deepen bilateral trade and business opportunities,” he said.
The Italian delegation has lined-up a series of meetings with a large number of Qatari entities and businesses. The discussions will cover agro-industry, with particular emphasis on the fruit, vegetables and cheese exports; environment, logistics and social health care.
In the environment sector, Italian companies are looking for opportunities in water management, waste management, and renewable energy. In the logistic sector, Italian companies are ready to share their expertise in the management of models for the optimization of internal warehousing and business logistics.
Italy’s agro-food and dairy sector is represented by five major companies in the delegation, including Consorzio Latterie Virgilio. It is a consortium of 50 social dairies and 1,5000 farmers members from Mantua province, that produces Grana Padano DOP, Parmigiano Reggiano DOP, UHT milk, creams, butter and mascarpone cheese. Caseificio Cissva, another company in the delegation represent a cooperative of approximately 100 members that produce butter, small fresh cheeses, demi-seasoned and seasoned cheeses.
The Peninsula Qatar
09 October
