(Finance) – “With a population of 700 million peopleLatin America represents a strategic area of expansion for Made in Italy. Today the figure for Italian exports in this market is ‘only’ 20 billion, a value which has a wide margin for growth if we manage, with coordinated teamwork, to release the bureaucratic, financial and distributional brakes that the area presents and to support companies in resolving financial critical issues linked to country risk. In the meantime, we must continue to promote the excellence of our products to an even wider audience. The Government has made exports a central point of our country’s economic strategy as demonstrated by the commitment to Africa with the Mattei Plan and initiatives towards the Balkans“. The message brought to Buenos Aires yesterday by the President was also incisive‘ICE by the voice of President Matteo Zoppas during the Italian system mission, which underlines how strategic it is to invest in those markets that have not yet expressed their true potential such as Central and South America.
“This system mission coordinated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs is of fundamental strategic importance, Antonio Tajaniwhich saw the massive participation of Italian System, with Ambassadors, Directors of the ICE, CDP, SACE, SIMEST offices and also with the contribution of Confindustria and CONFAPI, mission which has effectively turned the spotlight on Latin America, taking stock of the tools that small, medium and large businesses have at their disposal to find new business opportunities in a market which, although distant from a geographical point of view, has great affinities with Italy from the point of view of culture, tastes and traditions”.
These are the words of the President of ICE, Matteo Zoppas engaged in these days in the MAECI mission in Latin America which today stopped in Sao Paulo, Brazil for the Brazil Italy Business Forum, organized by Farnesina in collaboration with ICE and the Federation of Companies of the State of Sao Paulo (FIESP). “Italy’s exports to LATAM – continues Zoppas – in the last six months it has grown by 10% compared to the same period last year. In 2023 it remained stable, but from 2019 to 2023 it recorded 41% growth. The work that growth diplomacy is doing to break down bureaucratic, tariff and non-tariff barriers, also through the push towards the Mercosur agreement, is fundamental to increasing the presence of Made in Italy in the region. Pushing this figure, as well as that of the Italian turnover in the entire region, is among the priorities that ICE has given itself for the near future”.