'Italy can learn' from Sino-German business ties

Retired Italian business titan Cesare Romiti, 91, says one of the most memorable highlights of his career was helping to open a factory to produce Fiat vehicles in Nanjing in 1986.

These days, Romiti appears to be in good shape and works to promote links between China and Italy. Since 2000, he says, he has devoted "all of his time" to the Italy China Foundation, a non-profit group that he founded and dedicated to strengthening business and cultural links between the two countries.

Romiti, an economist who worked for 20 years helping build the auto giant Fiat, led the company from 1996 to 1998 and was known as "Il Duro", or the tough one, when he led the company.