(Tiper Stock Exchange) – “Italy is the 2nd country in the EU for the incidence of agrifood on GDP (about 4%) and a agri-food exports as a whole that, after the records of 2021 (beyond 50 billion euros of exports)mark in 2022 a growth trend of +15.3%“. He said so Marco Rottigni, Head of the International Subsidiary Banks Division of Intesa Sanpaolo who spoke today at the inauguration of the Novi Sad International Agricultural Fair, the most important agricultural fair in South-Eastern Europe, in the presence of the Minister of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry, Francesco Lollobrigida, of the Agriculture Minister Jelena Tanaskovic e of others Italian and Serbian authorities.
“As far as Serbia is concerned, the contribution of the agricultural sector amounts to 6.3% of the GDPshare that rises to 9% if we consider the entire agrifood sector and employs around one sixth of the total workforce. A strongly positive intonation of agri-food exports should also be noted, growing by over 20% in 2022. In the field of agri-tech and agricultural machinery export, a sector in which we are the second largest supplier of Serbia, Italian exports in 2022 grew by 26.6% compared to 2021, as also recently underlined by Ambassador Luca Gori”, he continued.
“The Intesa Sanpaolo Group makes available to Serbian and Italian institutions and companies economic and professional resources to strengthen collaboration between the two countries, with particular attention to agribusiness and the development of an agricultural supply chain Euro-Mediterranean in the name of excellence”. “In Italy, Intesa Sanpaolo has developed highly qualified skills and tailor-made services for the agricultural sector and in particular in an ESG keythanks to the skills and professionalism of the Banche dei Territori Division, headed by Stephen Barrese. Also in Serbia, where we have been active since 2005 with Banca Intesa Beograd, the first bank in the country and authentic engine of the local economy and relations between Serbian and Italian companies, we are strongly committed to financing agricultural and agri-food production, which represents the 9% of GDP, and we reserve subsidized credits for the entrepreneurial projects that respect the criteria of sustainability and the circular economy”.
“THEn Serbia and in the other 11 countries of Central-South-Eastern Europe and the Middle East where the commercial banks of the International Subsidiary Banks Division operate, the Intesa Sanpaolo Group supports the sustainable growth of agri-food by making synergistic use of the technical and professional resources of the Agribusiness Department. We have also successfully launched the Supply Chain Development Program for the agri-food sector, which has already been active for some time in Italy, thanks to which SMEs in countries such as Serbia benefit from the credit access conditions of more structured companies at the head of the supply chains themselves”. concluded Rottigni.