Gao Yan, Chairperson of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), attended the Italy-China Trade and Investment Cooperation Forum in Rome, Italy on June 20. Manlio Di Stefano, Undersecretary of State for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Italy, Vincenzo Petrone, General Manager of the Italy China Foundation and Li Bin, Economic and Commercial Minister-Counselor at the Chinese Embassy to Italy also attended the forum and delivered speeches.

Gao Yan said, this year marks the 15th anniversary of Italy-China comprehensive strategic partnership and next year will be the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

“Italy-China relations have maintained a sound momentum of development over the past half century. During President Xi Jinping's visit to Italy in March this year, the leaders of the two countries mapped out the blueprint and charted the course for Italy-China comprehensive strategic partnership, ushering in a new era of Italy-China bilateral relations. Under the leadership of the high-level officials of the two sides, the economic and trade cooperation between China and Italy has been continuously on the rise. Both China and Italy benefit from and are supportive of economic globalization. China is willing to work together with Italy in pushing for the improvement of the global economic governance system with Italy to make economic globalization develop with higher quality in a more open, inclusive, balanced and mutually beneficial way towards the construction of the community of common destiny and a more prosperous and better world.

“CCPIT is willing to collaborate with Italian counterparts in enhancing the mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries on a wider basis, at a higher level and in a deeper dimension by building bridges and providing services for the exchanges, project match-making and industrial cooperation between companies of China and Italy so as to tap the potential of bilateral cooperation in trade and scientific and technological innovation as well as exploring the third-party market cooperation,” added Gao.

Di Stefano noted, since China and Italy enjoy close relations and are willing to expand friendly cooperation, the two countries should implement the results achieved by the two leaders during President Xi’s visit to Italy. He expressed his hope that the industrial and commercial institutions and business communities of the two sides work together to increase win-win cooperation in such areas as science and technology, agriculture, third-party market, health care and tourism, etc.

Petrone expressed his hope that given the solid foundation for cooperation, China and Italy, bound together by the new Silk Road, should work hand in hand to push for all-round cooperation by deepening cooperation and tapping into the potential for cooperation in R&D and commercialization of science and technology, starting with infrastructure construction.

The Forum was co-hosted by CCPIT and China-Italy Chamber of Commerce (CICC) in Rome, Italy. Over 120 representatives from the Chinese and Italian business communities attended and had discussions at the forum.