Important year for Sino-Italian bonds

By Ettore Francesco Sequi and Ma WeihuaThe "Road to 50" | China Daily | Updated: 2016-04-22 07:33

The year 2016 will be crucial for relations between Italy and China. This year marks the beginning of our path ahead toward 2020, the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between our countries, which coincides with the conclusion of the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20).

In January, the Italian embassy inaugurated a five-year journey - the "Road to 50" - an initiative conceived by Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs Paolo Gentiloni. The "Road to 50" aims to upgrade the bilateral strategic partnership with more in-depth cooperation in a wide range of areas offering significant complementarities between Italy and China: healthcare systems, aerospace, agribusiness, food safety, green economy and environmental technologies.

The relationship between Italy and the China Entrepreneur Club plays a key role along the "Road to 50". The seeds of a special partnership were sown last year, when the CEC membership visited Italy and met Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. The one-week visit saw the CEC delegation in Rome, Florence and Milan, meeting over 300 business and political leaders across eight key events. This visit paved the way for further collaboration between Italian and Chinese entrepreneurs.

Now Italy and the CEC are working together - both in Italy and in China - to make the most of this great partnership. The embassy has organized several meetings with prominent CEC members including Liu Donghua (founder and executive board member, China Entrepreneur Club and founder and chief guideline officer, Zhisland) and Xia Hua (member, China Entrepreneur Club and chairwoman, EVE Group).

Last week, Jack Ma (CEC executive board member and executive chairman, Alibaba Group) attended Vinitaly, the most important event in Italy's wine sector, in Verona, Italy, with the Italian prime minister.

Today we make another step forward: the Italian delegation is the largest delegation of foreign companies at the CEC's annual China Green Companies Summit which starts today in Jinan, Shandong.

Italy at the China Green Companies Summit

Established in 2008, the China Green Companies Summit is China's premier business leader forum. The annual summit has been widely recognized as the pinnacle private sector business forum in China, dedicated to business excellence and sustainable growth.

In Jinan, Italy will be showcased in a session entitled "The Italian Advantage: Tradition, Technology, Sustainability". Acknowledging the importance of this session, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has decided to ask his special envoy and economic advisor Marco Simoni to deliver the opening remarks.

The Italian industrial model is renowned worldwide; Italian companies are highly innovative and competitive in sectors including clean energy, food safety, medical technology and industrial machinery. This success stems from the ability of Italian companies to combine tradition with constant innovation and research. With this approach, the Italian industrial sector remains highly competitive without sacrificing a core focus on sustainability, and drives the future progress of sustainable business globally.

Ettore Francesco Sequi is the ambassador of Italy to China, and Ma Weihua is the president of the China Entrepreneur Club.