Message from Aarij Iqbal, President, Italian Development Committee-IDC

TEXT: On behalf of Italian Development Committee-IDC, I convey warmest wishes to the people of Italy as they celebrate their 76th Republic Day.

I am especially grateful to the Embassy of Italy in Islamabad and the Consulate of Italy in Karachi for their partnership on initiatives and opportunities that are related to trade and investment between Pakistan and Italy.

I would like to take this opportunity to highlight and inform everyone that IDC has achieved a milestone by becoming a full member of the ASSOCAMERESTERO which is the main association body under which all member chambers operate in Italy. In 2019 we announced that we had achieved an observer status. In these challenging last years, we continued our engagement with our regional counterparts. Even though our activities here were limited, however our constant interaction on the forum and the support from our regional president and our central office in Rome, we have attained this status.

This sets course for new changes and developments both in our operations in Pakistan and new opportunities for our members, as we will now be able to access the global network and provide opportunities with Italian counterparts globally through our chamber network.

Here, I would like to take the opportunity to thank the Italian Embassy in Islamabad, Consulate of Italy in Karachi, The Central Executive Committee and the members IDC for their continued support and confidence in me which has enabled us to achieve this global acceptance and recognition.

The last years have seen major global changes in the way we do business all across the globe. Italy has been no different to the changes. However, the people of Italy have once again proven their resilience in facing up to the challenges posed by the pandemic and the current changes which are direct consequence of the conflict on the borders of EU.

Both these events of global proportions have led to changing business environment in Italy and the rest of the world. The times still remain uncertain with rising inflation and higher cost raw materials and cost of doing business.

During the year IDC had the opportunity to host delegates from the Italian cooperation for development creating engagement with the social and the business communities of Karachi. We actively participated in the Italian Cuisine Week through strong representation of our members, held a seminar to engage the agricultural sector of Sindh province and highlighted the use of efficient technologies through our member CNHI.

Italy continues to show its prowess and industrial strength by keeping its GDP growth above 4 percent for the current year.

With Italy reopen for business, we see new opportunities in these challenging times. The trade relations between Italy & Pakistan have seen tremendous growth and we have seen a new high in the bilateral trade volume in the last year. The Pakistani origin Italian community is also playing an important role in the economic activity in Italy and as a consequence we have seen a significant rise in remittances by expatriate Pakistanis living in Italy.

This year we see continued activities by engaging delegations from both sides in various sectors keeping in line with our philosophy of complementing Italian Know-how with Pakistani entrepreneurial spirit.

On my recent visit to Italy in May 2022, I held meetings with counter parts to devise a strategy for activities which will start soon.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022