6th CY-IT Business Forum: Strengthen the Business Cooperation between Italy and Cyprus.
The 6th edition of the Cypriot-Italian Business Forum, titled “Economic Development and Opportunities in the Mediterranean. Strengthening the Business Relations between Italy and Cyprus” co-organised by the Italian-Cypriot Chamber of Commerce and the Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry took place in the Unioncamere premises on Wednesday 21th June and was, as every edition, a really important opportunity to share experiences and prospects on the Cypriot-Italian Axis.
After the opening remarks of the President of the Italian-Cypriot Chamber of Commerce, Giuseppe Marino who took the occasion to give an overview on the activity of the Chamber from the foundation and to give some reference to the upcoming projects and the institutional greetings sent through a video message by Christodoulos Angastagnotis, President of the Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry who remarked the strong cooperation in place with the Italian-Cypriot Chamber of Commerce it was the Ambassador of Cyprus in Italy H.E. Yiorgos Christofides to offer the institutional greeting recalling the historical relations between Italy and Cyprus and mentioning the current numbers in terms of commercial exchange between the two countries as well the positive prospects to further enhance the already excellent relations.
Particularly noteworthy was the panels of speakers moderated by the Vice President of the Italian-Cypriot Chamber of Commerce Federico Franchina who gave the word first to Vincenzo Ercole Salazar Sarfield, Global Head of Italian Infrastracture at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Head of Internationalization of the Italian National Constructor Association (ANCE) followed by Marco Ragusa representing the Engineering, Architecture and Technical Economic Association (OICE) and from the Cypriot side by Stephanos Pierides, Secretary General of the Federation of Building Contractor’s Association (OSEOK) with at the end the presence of Marco Piredda, Senior Vice President of ENI who gave an important overview on the status of the activities of ENI in the area.
Particularly important was the announcement by the representative of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and ANCE of a Memorandum of Understanding with OSEOK aimed to further improve and develop the business cooperation in the construction and infrastructure field.
The second panel was opened by Ivo Blandina, President of Uniontrasporti the Italian chamber system company in the field of Transport and Logistic followed by Andreas Yiasemides, President of the Cyprus Investment Funds Association who remarked the competitive advantages of the Cypriot jurisdiction in the field and Christos Akkelides, Director of Argus Asset Management, one of the most important Cypriot company in the field who also recently performed an important deal in Italy.
The panel was closed by the two representatives of the Shipping Clusters Xhantos Kyriacou, Managing Director of Columbia Ship Management and Paul Kyprianou, External Relations Manager of Grimaldi Group who presented the respective groups underlyined from different perspectives the importance to work on the improvement of the existing business relations mentioning also some of the areas with more potential.
The closing remarks were given by Constantinos Katsaros, Vice President Italian-Cypriot Chamber of Commerce, after thanking the authoritative speakers and numerous present guests, emphasised the central role of the Chamber in the consolidation and further development of cooperation between Italian and Cypriot companies, as well as the important cooperation with the Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry, co-organiser also this year for the Forum, and with the institutions of both countries.
The event was followed by a networking cocktail with numerous B2B meetings.
For information and insights on activities of the Italian-Cypriot Chamber of Commerce: segreteria@camcomitacipro.it
