Italy and China have signed a memorandum committing the two countries to set up a Sino-Italian committee to foster cooperation on trade and investment.
The memorandum was signed by the Chinese Minister of Commerce Gao Hucheng and the Italian Minister of Economic Development Flavio Zanonato during the "Sino-Italian Forum for a new model of economic and commercial cooperation", held in Beijing.
The committee, which - said Minister Zanonato - will act as an intermediary for companies on both sides, is seen as an important tool for promoting bilateral economic relations and opening up new commercial opportunities in both the Chinese and Italian markets.
The committee will meet once or twice a year, in China or Italy, preferably on the occasion of visits by a president or a minister. The first meeting is set for this April, during Enrico Letta's visit to Beijing. On that occasion, a series of agreements aimed at monitoring the evolution of the economic cooperation process will be signed.
Speaking at the Forum, the Italian ambassador to China Alberto Bradanini declared: “In recent years, Sino-Italian economic cooperation has favored four sectors: sustainable urbanisation, environmental protection, health and agriculture. If China, on the one hand, has a rapidly growing demand, on the other, Italy has industrialists and entrepreneurs eager to share management culture and entrepreneurial skills with their Chinese colleagues”.
In turn, Wang Shouwen, deputy minister of Commerce, said that "Italians and Chinese need to discover the real potential of bilateral trade by expanding the volume of trade".
“China – he added – is ready to import more technology and more services from Italy. We will also try to direct Italian investments towards the sectors of agriculture, services and emerging strategic industries”. "In return" he concluded "we expect greater facilitations from Italy on visas and residence permits".
