ITALIAN REPUBLIC DAY: Messages from Amedeo Scarpa Italian Trade Commissioner for Pakistan UAE office

The Italian Trade Commission (ITA) is the Italian Government trade and investment promotion agency whose duty is to develop, facilitate and promote the economic and trade relations of Italy with other countries, with particular emphasis on the needs of small and medium sized businesses.

It gives me immense pleasure to address the readers of this special supplement on occasion of the Italian National Day to be celebrated on 2nd, June 2023 in Islamabad and Karachi respectively.

Trade promotion is becoming increasingly complex and difficult in the era of globalization and pandemic where every day brings new commodities and market forces in the global trading system. The Italian Trade Commission has always worked under the auspices of the Embassy and Consulate of Italy to enhance the existing trade relations between Italy and Pakistan, through its office for Pakistan in Karachi [email protected]

Italy stands among the top ten trading partners of Pakistan. Italian industrialists have been enjoying good trade relations with their Pakistani counterparts for the past many decades. However, there are still large margins for further improving such trade by enhancing trade promotion activities to be realized in both countries.

PAKISTAN’s exports of goods and services to Italy witnessed an increase of 35.58% during the first three quarters of fiscal year (2021-22) as compared to the exports of corresponding period of last year. The overall exports to ITALY were at $758.795 million during July-March (2021-22) against exports of $559.664 million during July- March (2020-21). And this is above the average considering that Pakistan’s exports to other countries had an increase of 26.64% in nine months (from US $18.713 billion to US $ 23.699 billion).

On year-on-year basis, the imports from Italy increased by 98.32%, by going up from $43.320 million during March 2021 against the exports of $85.916 million in March 2022. Meanwhile, on month-on-month basis the imports from Italy witnessed surge of 47.31% in March 2022 as compared to the exports of $58.323 million in February 2022. (Source: SBP)

We look forward to increased interaction between Italy and Pakistan in the years to come and for Italy to become major stakeholder in Pakistan’s industrial growth and development, not only in terms of provider of technology for Pakistan manufacturing units but also in terms of quality standards of FMCG in which Italy has a worldwide reputation and can represent a win-win best practise for Pakistani partners and new products.

This is the reason why the Italian Government and the Minister of Foreign Affairs decided to open a new office of ICE/ITALIAN Trade Agency in Islamabad from this month of June 2023.

My best wishes and welcome to my colleague dr. Salvatore Parano, the newly appointed ITA Director for Pakistan. I am sure that its long lasting experience and knowledge will be a fruitful asset to reach such a challenging goal. Benvenuto Salvatore!

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Copyright Business Recorder, 2023