TEXT: On behalf of Italian Development Committee, I convey my warmest wishes to the people of Italy as they celebrate their 75th 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 that are related to trade and investment between Pakistan and Italy.

After a very challenging 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect all of us in 2021. Nevertheless, the start of the vaccination campaigns throughout the world allows us to be cautiously optimistic about the future.

These are un-precedent times for all of us around the globe, however I take pride in recognizing the courage and resolve of the people and the Italian Government in standing strong and facing the challenges encountered with the COVID-19 Pandemic. The people of Italy have shown to the world that they can rise to any challenge with strength and patience and come out stronger than before. We would like to take the opportunity to recognize the Healthcare workers and their families for the immense contribution in saving lives and showing to the world the true Italian spirit of perseverance and compassion. We would also like to extend our heartfelt condolences to all the families who lost their loved ones during these difficult times.

With Italy reopening with caution for business we see new opportunities in these challenging times. In the past trade relations have seen tremendous growth and we had hit new highs in the last years and I am confident that we will have renewed growth and new prospects in the years to come. In the last year we had the opportunity to host webinars with speakers and experts from Italian Companies. We celebrated the Design week by engaging experts from both Italy and Pakistan and invited a leading Italian Chef during the cuisine week to highlight the importance of Italian excellence.

With the support of the Italian Consulate in Karachi we participated in DLFA and had the pleasure to host an interactive evening the Italian Ambassador and the vibrant business community of Karachi.

We had the opportunity to welcome the members of Italian Agency for Development Cooperation and were apprised in detail with future plans for their engagement in Pakistan. IDC continues to work in further strengthening the ties between the Italian and Pakistani business communities and is gearing up to start new initiatives in the 2nd half of 2021.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021