AEFI E AMCHAM ITALY: MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING FOR THE INTERNATIONALISATION OF ITALIAN COMPANIES IN THE UNITED STATES
AEFI – Italian Exhibition and Trade Fair Association and the American Chamber of Commerce in Italy (“AmCham Italy”) signed a memorandum of understanding to promote trade relations of Italian companies in the United States.
The agreement was signed by the President of AEFI, Ettore Riello, and by the Managing Director of AmCham Italy, Simone Crolla, as part of the General Meeting of the Italian Exhibition and Trade Fair Association, which discussed the topic of business internationalisation at length. For AEFI, the agreement represents another important milestone in support of the national trade fair and exhibition system.
“Internationalisation, which is an essential driver of growth for our businesses, is also an essential activity for our Association“, says Ettore Riello, President of AEFI. “The strategic value of this agreement is even more significant at a time as this, where the rules of the game are changing and may usher in a new era of international trade. Thanks to AmCham, we aim to offer our members the right support to approach and expand properly and with due awareness in the American market“.
The goal of the agreement is to foster the joint organisation of workshops to support members with specific information and industry-specific studies to encourage business expansion strategies and investment opportunities in the United States; the exchange of information and promotion of their activities; and the promotion of trade cooperation by relying on all the available tools, including the web.
The agreement also offers the option of scheduling specific institutional missions to support the construction and development of relations and contacts of AEFI and its members in the U.S., especially with U.S. government agencies specialised in trade fairs and export, such as the International Trade Administration and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Finally, the agreement envisages the sharing of business support services and the creation of special awards to be delivered during exhibitions held by AEFI members. These awards will be included in the official “AmCham Italy Excellence Award” programme.
The strategic importance of this agreement is also underscored by the decision to create “Special Advisors“, figures of coordination and connection between the two institutions to make relations efficient and streamlined, an assignment that has been entrusted to Loredana Sarti, Secretary General of AEFI, and Alessandro Pigozzi, Public Affairs Advisor of AmCham Italy.
“This agreement with AEFI is a clear sign of our Organisation’s intention to support the internationalisation process in the U.S. of the Italian trade fair industry“, commented Simone Crolla, Managing Director of AmCham Italy. “As already witnessed in past projects, the American market offers countless opportunities for development in this field that deserve to be examined in depth. AmCham Italy will be a strategic partner of AEFI in these activities, promoting and fostering relations with the United States and supporting the identification and assessment of the most interesting investment options“.
AEFI – Italian Exhibition and Trade Fair Association, a private non-profit Association, was established in 1983 with the goal of generating synergies between the most important Italian exhibition districts. More specifically, AEFI would like to be seen as a privileged partner for operators and institutions alike, and its role is to support members through the development of activities and programmes in the sphere of training, marketing, promotion and research, as well as to provide services for trade fairs through the activities of its Committees: Exhibition Hub Technical Committee, Legal-Administrative Committee, Internationalisation Committee and Trade Fairs Network Committee.
On an international scale, AEFI represents Italian trade fairs in UFI – Union of International Fairs. Chaired by Ettore Riello, AEFI includes 35 member exhibition districts, which organise over 1,000 events a year over an overall exhibition area of 4.2 million square metres. 95% of international trade fairs and 85% of all trade fairs that take place each year in Italy are held in AEFI-member exhibition districts.
www.aefi.it/Aefi/site/en/index
The American Chamber of Commerce in Italy is a private non-profit organisation. It is affiliated with the Chamber of Commerce in Washington, DC, the U.S. equivalent of Confindustria, whose members include more than three million businesses. It is also a founding member of the European Council of American Chambers of Commerce, the organisation that protects free trade between the European Union and United States.
AmCham aims to promote economic and cultural relations between the United States and Italy, promoting and protecting the interests of its members in the context of business activities between the two countries.
In addition to its headquarters in Milan, AmCham is present in major Italian cities and of the United States through a network of local representatives.
http://www.amcham.it