“India can expand bilateral trade with Italy further by liberalizing trade policies”: Consul General of Italy in Kolkata

Bharat Chamber of Commerce organised a Special Session on ‘Leveraging Indo-Italian Business and Investment Collaborations’ in the series on ‘India’s G20 Presidency – Path to ensure Last-Mile Inclusivity’ on Saturday, the 20th May, 2023 at its premises in Kolkata. His Excellency Dr. Gianluca Rubagotti, Consul General of Italy in Kolkata was present as the Guest-in-Chief.

Other key speakers included, Mr. Alessandro Liberatori, Trade Commissioner and                    Mr. Carlo Adami, Financial Attaché from the Embassy of Italy in India and Mr. Amit Roy, President and Mr. Pankaj Parekh, Chairman, Eastern Regional Council from The Indo-Italian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

In course of his address, Dr. Rubagotti observed that FTA with the EU would require time to materialise as reaching a mutual understanding often gets hindered due to rigidity in outlook. “India should consider revising her outlook for devising trade policies by removing trade barriers. This would definitely help in expanding her scope for doing business with Italy”, he added.

Dr. Rubagotti emphasised that presence of Italian investments and innovation can be facilitated in areas such as construction, furniture and food processing sectors. In this regard, he pledged every support from the Embassy and Consulates to the entrepreneurs doing and willing to do business with Italy. Members representing brands such as Titagarh Wagons, Manaksia Steel and Luxmi Tea voiced their appreciation in doing business with Italy and envisioned to expand their operations further.

From the Embassy of Italy in India, Mr. Liberatori and Mr. Adami outlined the potential sectors of doing business with Italy. This included automotive, steel, food processing and financial services.

Earlier in his Welcome Address, Mr. N. G. Khaitan, President informed that the Chamber is closely working with the Department of Defence Production in promoting the policies of the Government of India in indigenisation of defence production and exports of defence products from India. In light of the defence co-operation agreement signed a few months back by the Prime Ministers of Italy and India, the Chamber would like to establish linkages with Italian agencies interested in collaborating in defence production and procurement, he stated.