The aim of the “National Student Day to Fight Counterfeiting” is to raise the awareness of youths on the problem of counterfeiting and the international commerce of “Italian sounding” products, as well as to promote the culture of legality in the new generations. The Day was launched on 29 October by the National Council for the Fight against Counterfeiting and Italian-Sounding Terms, an organization established at the Ministry of Economic Development with the participation of the Foreign Ministry and of another nine ministries.
The Day was launched in an official event hosted in Bari, in the Auditorium of the Legione Allievi Finanzieri which, thanks to the cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, involved all the Italian schools around the world: in Buenos Aires, Boston, Chicago, Cordoba, Istanbul, Lyon, Madrid, Moscow, New York, Ottawa, Beijing, Sao Paulo, Tirana, Washington and Zurich.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs supports the fight against counterfeiting within the framework of assuring the competitiveness and internationalisation of the Italian economic system. The Foreign Ministry’s Central Director for Innovation and Research, Fabrizio Nicoletti, explained: “The sale of counterfeited products is a continuously growing global socio-economic problem in which Italy is particularly exposed. According to OECD estimates, the market of counterfeited Italian products is worth approximately 31.7 billion. It does not only concern fashionwear and food products but also innovation-intensive products. Our Ministry performs a constant diplomatic action to defend Italian products and companies and operates through its diplomatic and consular networks of Offices in all possible institutional contexts and International Organisations. An effective integrated promotion strategy for Brand Italy, highlighting our points of excellence combined with our international cooperation efforts and trade with foreign Countries, can only find its expression through a constant attention on defending our industrial property rights.”
