Sacchi: Italy Seeks to Expand Partnership with Bulgaria

Novinite Insider » INTERVIEW | June 6, 2005, Monday // 00:00
Sacchi: Italy Seeks to Expand Partnership with Bulgaria Giovanni Sacchi, Director of the Bureau of the Italian Institute for Foreign Trade in Sofia. Photo by Yuliana Nikolova (Sofia News Agency)

The Italian Festival is running in Sofia for a second successive year to promote Italian way of life, culinary, fashion, furniture design and movies. It is organised by the Italian Institute of Foreign Trade under the auspices of the Embassy of the Republic of Italy. In the period of May 18-June 17 a variety of events have shown off the significance Italy assigns to Bulgaria as economic and cultural partner.

To learn something more about the aims and organisation of this year's festival, Ivelina Puhaleva, Editor at Sofia News Agency, has approached Mr Giovanni Sacchi, Director of the Bureau in Sofia of the Italian Institute for Foreign Trade.


Q: Bulgaria hosts the traditional Italian Festival for a second successive year? What has made the difference this time?

A: We are organising the Italian Festival in Bulgaria because we are convinced that the message it implies brings our culture, arts, technologies and products nearer to Bulgarian public. The Festival is an expression of our openness and conviction that Bulgaria is a strategic partner and of our wish to cooperate on behalf of our mutual progress.

The new thing Bulgarian public can see this year is one more example of the Best of Italy- the furniture design. The project includes also a special seminar dedicated to the Italian furniture design to be participated by Mr Alessandro Guerriero, President of the New Academy of Fine Arts (NABA), Milan. We envision a much more different way of representation of Italian furniture, which offers a tour in the shops of NIDO, SENZA and VERSUS. The other novelty is the large-scale event we organise in the HIT supermarket to represent Italian foodstuffs.

Q: Famous Italian brands are well-known in Bulgaria, what are the horizons opening to Bulgarian furniture in Italy?

A: Bulgarian furniture industry is following a fast pace of growth. Italian investments here - for example the Nicoletti sofas - serve to enhance the quality pf Bulgarian products. Through the presence of Italian designers here we hope to be able to assist for the development of the furniture industry in Bulgaria, so that it becomes highly competitive in the European market.

Q: Do you plan that the Festival goes beyond Sofia and Plovdiv and is organised in other locations in Bulgaria as well?

A: This is the second edition of the Italian Festival here and we have concentrated in Sofia and also in Plovdiv - another city of Bulgaria with a strong Italian entrepreneurship presence. In the next years we would like to see the Festival going on the sleeve of a traditional event and believe to be able to organise it in other locations too.

Q: What does the project "Italia - Bulgaria in the ITC sector" include? How much interest in establishing bilateral partnership in this sector have you detected?

A: The project aims to establish partnership between IT and communication companies from Bulgaria and Italy, as well as contacts between associations and organisations working in this field in either country. I could confirm specific results so far as there are about 60 companies showing interest to set up partnership with Italian counterparts. During the seminar that will take place June 7 in Sheraton Hotel in Sofia the companies will have the opportunity to discuss directly prospects of partnership.

Q: Italy has occupied the enviable third place among foreign investors in Bulgaria? In your opinion, in which economic sectors there are still "virgin areas" where bilateral cooperation could still enlarge to?

A: Italian companies in Bulgaria characterize with a very strong presence in Bulgaria. If we take a look back to the statistics of the first quarter 2005, Italy has enlarged its export to Bulgaria by 18%, while Bulgaria has marked 7% increase of imports from Germany and 1% from Russia. The export of Bulgaria to Italy has also recorded a positive trend with an increase of 31%. Italy is not solely one of main trade partners, but also a production partner of Bulgaria.

Among the strategic sectors that offer an opportunity for cooperation with the Made in Italy system we should mention machinery and industrial technologies, public services, electronic machinery, construction, agricultural machinery, tourism, etc.

Q: Are Italian companies ready to work together with Bulgarian partners under the EU pre-accession programs, PHARE and ISPA?

A: We have launched several successful partnerships so far and we believe, as a result of the initiatives already started, to be able to quote some more soon.

Q: In your opinion, economic or cultural relations are developing faster between our two countries?

A: As I have already mentioned, Bulgarian is a strategic partner of Italy. In an outspoken manner it was demonstrated during the business forum held in the middle of April here within the official visit of Italian President Carlo Ciampi in Bulgaria. The forum was partaken by more than 150 Italian companies, banking and sector-representative institutions. Companies of either country held over a thousand working meetings. This forum will produce specific results in the very near future because it intermediated for the introduction of Bulgarian entrepreneurs to the Italian ones and vice versa.

So far as the cultural contacts are concerned, I could mention the Festival of Italian Cinema and the concert program organised also within the framework of the Italian Festival. Lastly I would like to point at the fact that the Bureau of the Italian Institute for Foreign Trade in Sofia provides information about scholarship grants to Bulgarian students at economy to study at Italian universities.

Q: This year's program of the Festival includes a vast panorama of Italian classic movies. In your view, where could be the cross-points for joint development of Bulgarian and Italian movie industries?

A: Italian movie companies see Bulgaria as an important partner. Here we have a continuous presence of companies offering their know-how. I should also say that Bulgaria has excellent professionals in this field who constantly enrich in experience.

Q: Do you think that a Bulgarian cultural festival would be welcomed in Italy?

A: We would be glad to welcome and support such an initiative, especially in the context of the accession of Bulgaria to the European Union. I would also say that there have been request about this from some Italian regions, such as Liguria, where there is an idea to organise such event and they could offer know-how.

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