Directorate General for Multilateral Economic and Financial Cooperation

Insofar as they fall within its remit, the Directorate General for Multilateral Economic and Financial Cooperation is concerned with the following:

• matters in  which the international organisations and institutions for financial, economic and commercial cooperation authorised;
• participation in the activities of agencies and bodies instituted under Italian law involved in loans and investments abroad;
• economic and global issues connected with the G7/8 process;
• promoting and developing Italian firms and encouraging increased foreign investment and tourism in Italy, in collaboration with the Ministry of Trade and the Ministry of Economic Development;
• supervising the activity of the Unit for weapons materials permits and, in areas where it is authorised, monitoring policy issues concerning the export and import of weapons and dual-use materials;
• issues regarding the protection of intellectual property;
• matters of economic significance regarding international laws in the sectors of energy, the environment and multilateral technological cooperation.

The Directorate General for Multilateral Economic and Financial Cooperation is divided into seven Offices:

• Office I (Multilateral economic and financial activities):International organisations for financial, economic and trade cooperation (OECD, WTO, UNCTAD, ITC); institutional structures of the international organisations for economic and financial development (international financial institutions such as the regional development banks and UNCTAD); agreements on basic products, and international organisations in the maritime and air transport and tourism sectors; economic sector of the United Nations, specialised agencies and other international organisations in the economic sector;
• Office II (Matters regarding international debt and export credit insurance; international financial institutions; the Paris Club; bilateral debt restructuring agreements; Law 209/2000; SACE (Export Credit Insurance Agency); negotiating consensus; participation in the Standing Committee on Economic Planning (CIPE) on matters relating to SACE; matters pertaining to international financial and economic development institutions (including regional development banks);
• Office III (Support for the internationalisation of the Italian economic system): Promotion and coordination, in agreement with the technical ministries concerned, of initiatives in support of Italian business operating abroad and increased foreign investment and tourism in Italy; implementation of Law 56/2005 on the internationalisation of businesses; relations with ICE (Institute of Foreign Trade), ENIT (Foreign Trade Board) SIMEST (Agency for the Development and Promotion of Italian Enterprise Abroad), FINEST (Agency for the Promotion of Economic Cooperation with the Countries of Eastern Europe), Chambers of Commerce in Italy and abroad, business and banking associations; inter-institutional joint initiatives involving the participation of Italian firms in international calls for tenders and the supply of goods and services; participation in the 5th CIPE standing committee for foreign trade; trade shows and fairs in Italy and abroad, registered and recognised exhibitions, EU fairs group, IEB; relations with Italian organisations in charge of regulating inward investment to Italy;
• Office IV (Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development): international regulations and cooperation for the protection of the environment;
• Office V (Protection of intellectual property. Office of the Delegate for agreements on intellectual property): protection of intellectual property and countering international piracy, European Patent Office; Office for the Harmonisation of the Internal Market; World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) and its relations with the WTO on matters regarding intellectual property (Trips9; relations with the Italian Patents and Industrial Brands Office and with the High Commissioner for the fight against counterfeiting; standing consultative committee for copyright;
• Office VI (Space, Support for the Aerospace and Defence Industries, Information Society, Control and Transfer of Goods and Dual Use and Sensitive Technologies): Space; support for the internationalisation of the aerospace and defence industries; international co-production of weapons materials; Defence/Industry Committee; technological cooperation; information society; international issues related to the use of nuclear energy; international multilateral harmonisation on matters concerning the control of dual use and sensitive materials and technologies with a view to countering the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction; inter-ministerial standing committee (Legislative Decree 96/2003) for the national application of EU rules on controlling those transfers;
• Office VII (G8 themes and globalisation): Preparation of summit meetings of Heads of State and Government, for issues for which this Directorate General is responsible and those covered by the other Directorates General, in conjunction with the latter;
• Analysis of global and cross-over themes of an economic nature.

The Directorate General for Multilateral Economic and Financial Cooperation also oversees the activities of the Unit for Weapons Materials Permits (UWMP) pursuant to Law 185/1990.