A mission from Sicily’s Mazara del Vallo Fishing District travelled to Algeria on 8-10 February, to develop cooperation projects between the two countries. The delegation, led by the District’s Chairman, Giovanni Tumbiolo, met Algerian Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Sid-Adhmed Ferroukhi, who called for a partnership with foreign operators to transfer know-how and help train local workers. Mr Tumbiolo confirmed his District was willing to engage in promoting cooperation with local businesses, starting with investigating the potential development of a cluster in Boumerdes. Algerian authorities also proposed a twinning with two Sicilian research organisations, as part of the actions included in the MOU on cooperation for training, promotion and research in the fishing and aquaculture sector, signed in Rome in October 2011. The visit also provided an opportunity for an MOU to be signed between Curaba srl, a leading Italian company in the field of table olive production and marketing, and SGP-SGDA, Algeria’s Société de Gestion des Participations de l’Etat Développement Agricole, with the aim of identifying forms of commercial cooperation between the two companies.
India: Italian companies at Invest Karnataka 2016 to identify areas of interest
The Italian Trade Agency (ICE), the Indo-Italian Chamber of Commerce, SACE and a dozen companies already operating in the Indian market attended the Invest Karnataka 2016, Global Investors Meet exhibition. Italy, which was invited as a Partner Country, presented the achievements of a number of Italian companies, including MAPEI and Zuari Cement/Italcementi. Karnataka, one of India’s most industrially advanced states, is the Subcontinent’s technological hub with as many as 367 Information Technology R&D centres out of India’s 800 facilities. Karnataka exports 40% of Indian software and hosts 36% of the country’s start-up companies, deserving the nickname of “Asian Silicon Valley”. The State also has a strong manufacturing presence, particularly in the textile, agro-food, mechanics, automotive and biotechnology sectors. The Italian and Indian parties identified areas of mutual interest in the very manufacturing sectors where the industrial systems of Karnataka and Italy are highly complementary: great interest was expressed in Italian know-how in the textile sector and in leather and stone processing machinery, with particular focus on the establishment of training centres.
