During Italy's president Sergio Mattarella’s visit in China, the 4th meeting of the China-Italy Entrepreneurs Committee and the China-Italy Business Forum was held in the Great Hall of the People on February 22nd. Pirelli’s Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Marco Tronchetti Provera attended the forum as the committee’s Italian chairman and made a speech. A total of nearly 450 delegates from various government departments and business fields of the two countries attended the forum.
The meeting stressed once again that the China-Italy Entrepreneurs Committee would be committed to promoting the development and growth of the economic relations between the two countries, maintaining a permanent dialogue between entrepreneurs of both countries, strengthening the participation of core industry associations, and launching activities and projects conducive to bilateral common interests. The outcome documents signed at the meeting are consistent with the guideline advocated by the China-Italy Financial Forum held in Milan on February 16th, which is to promote the implementation of the strategic plans of the two countries in health care, science and technology, environmental sustainability, food industry, food safety, aerospace and scientific research.
“The Italian Federation, supported by the Italian Institute for Foreign Trade (I.C.E) and Confindustria, is in line with the aims that the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Economic Development adhere to. The Italian Federation will work with the Chinese Federation to promote the implementation of specific projects through the forum and make contributions to the fields with the most mutually beneficial and win-win value to both countries,” said Marco Tronchetti Provera at the meeting.
It is reported that in 2014, the China-Italy Entrepreneurs Committee, with the support of the Chinese and Italian governments, was established based on the agreement between the Chinese Ministry of Commerce and the Italian Ministry of Economic Development, aiming to promote the two countries’ pragmatic cooperation in high-end consumer goods, environmental protection, energy, food, machinery manufacturing and other fields, and provide support for the mutually beneficial trade and investment projects carried out by the enterprises in the two countries. Currently, the committee has a total of nearly 200 member enterprises. In February 2016, Marco Tronchetti Provera took up the post of the committee’s Italian chairman.
In 2015, Pirelli joined China National Chemical Corporation (ChemChina); the Silk Road Fund participated in ChemChina’s investment in Pirelli, and this project was also the first industrial project invested in by the Fund. The acquisition will create long-term industrial value in the tire sector, enhance Pirelli’s long-term development plan and strengthen the geographical coverage of its strategy; and through the integration, ChemChina’s advanced tire-manufacturing capability will be further enhanced.