A meeting washeld by the Italian Ministry of Economic Development on May 19 in Rometo push Italian investment in the 10 ASEAN nations.
Executives from brands including Piaggio, Roberto Colannino, Anistonand Francesco Merloni encouraged other Italian firms to follow theirlead by investing in Vietnam. They praised the country as a hub ofdevelopment, production and distribution which can produce products forall southeast Asian nations.
Speaking at theopening ceremony, Italian Deputy Minister Carlo Calenda expressed hispleasure at the the Italian import value from Vietnam, which is onethird of the total amount received by ASEAN members.
He also highlighted the huge potential of the Vietnamese market andthe regional market felt by Italian firms, especially with free tradeagreements to be signed soon with the European Union (EU) and the USA.
Meanwhile, ASEAN Secretary General Le Luong Minhunderlined the roles of the bloc in the global economy as the world‘sseventh largest econo,y. The bloc has always welcomed investors acrossthe world, including those from Italy and the EU, Minh said.
In 2014, the EU invested 29 billion USD in ASEAN, making up of 29percent of the bloc’s total foreign investment. Two-way trade hit 40billion EUR, making the EU the second biggest partner of the bloc,according to Minh.
The bloc’s chief expressedhis hope of seeing more Italian businesses in regional nations, topromote technology transfers to ASEAN while contributing to Italy’seconomic growth.
Romeo Orlandi from Italy’sAsian Observation Agency stressed the need for Italy to develop along-term development strategy in ASEAN, and diversify its investmentaspects to better tap the bloc’s potential.
According to the agency, the bloc is home to as many as 421 Italianfirms, with 118 operating in Singapore, 76 in Vietnam, 73 in Indonesia,and 72 in Malaysia.
Two-way trade betweenVietnam and Italy posted at 2.98 billion EUR in 2014, the highest valueamong the southeast Asian nations.-VNA