Italian Trade Agency and AEFI – Italian Exhibition and Trade Fair Association: agreement for the promotion abroad and internationalisation of Italian businesses renewed for the third two-year period

Michele Scannavini, President of the Italian Trade Agency for the promotion abroad and internationalisation of Italian businesses, and Ettore Riello, Chairman of AEFI – Italian Exhibition and Trade Fair Association, have renewed their collaboration for the 2018-2019 period as well, with the aim of supporting the process of internationalisation among AEFI-member Italian trade fair organisations.

AEFI and the Italian Trade Agency have a historic partnership, which from the end of 2013 has taken concrete form also through a specific framework agreement to meet the ever growing need of all members, whatever their dimensions or calling, to support the internationalisation of their exhibitors quickly and concretely, counting on the high-level networking and professionalism that the ITA can offer.

The promotional and awareness-raising activities addressed to potential exhibitors, which organisations can continue to run jointly with the ITA, aim both to develop the attendance of foreign operators and visitors at Italian trade fairs and to present Italian trade fairs on major foreign markets.

More than 250 initiatives were organised in the first four years of the agreement (113 in the first two-year period and 139 in the second), dedicated both to presenting the Italian trade fair system and its exhibitions to selected operators and to the special invitation of foreign delegations to trade fairs in Italy and to representation activities aiming to enlist foreign exhibitors for Italian Exhibitions.

Particular attention has been paid to Asian markets such as China, Korea, Japan and Iran, to the US and Russia and to certain African countries.

The agreement sees the ITA undertaking to perform a series of activities and provide services, granting AEFI members various forms of preferential treatment, as well as the possibility – through the stipulation of specific operating agreements with the individual organisations – to appoint the ITA to represent trade fairs organisations abroad, in one or more countries.

Thanks to the agreement, AEFI members can also still count for the next two-year period – as well as on the networking activities and professional capacities of the ITA – on specific analysis useful for identifying markets of potential interest, both as a point of attraction for exhibitors and visitors to exhibitions in Italy and to assess the possibility of exporting consolidated trade fair formats.

In 2016-2017, 13 AEFI members made use of the advantages offered by the agreement, allowing them to have meetings with operators and carry out targeted activities to penetrate strategic markets with their products.

The strengths that the two partners bring into play are notable: ITA makes available its own network of foreign offices, currently numbering 78 operational units in 66 countries worldwide, whereas AEFI represents the interests of 35 member districts which organise and host more than 1000 trade fair events on a total exhibition area of 4.2 million square metres each year as a whole.

Michele Scannavini, President of the Italian Trade Agency, commented: “Promotion of Italian industry abroad also involves reinforcing trade fair districts, and to support the internationalisation of our fairs, it is increasingly important to present a united front on foreign markets. This also emerges from the highly positive results obtained from the many years of collaboration between the ITA and AEFI: in the last four years, the services provided to trade fairs by the ITA have increased by 23% in number and 14.6% in value. Thanks to our foreign offices, we can offer more targeted and efficient support and offer new opportunities both for the global expansion of Italian exhibitions and attendance of foreign operators at the Italian editions.”

Ettore Riello, AEFI Chairman, added: “We are very pleased to continue our historic collaboration with the ITA, which has allowed us and will allow us to further promote the Italian trade fair system within the international context, also in keeping with the Ministry of Economic Development’s policy to support Italian industry. Trade fairs are the right tool for accompanying Italian businesses on the main international markets and, thanks to the agreement with the ITA, we will be able to reinforce the growth of our exhibitions and develop the business of the companies that attend them. I have always been convinced that ‘coordinating the system’ is helpful from the perspective of international competition. We are pleased to continue coordinating the system together with the ITA.”

The Italian Trade Agency for the promotion abroad and internationalisation of Italian businesses, in operation since 1926, is the body through which the Italian government promotes the consolidation and economic-commercial development of our businesses on foreign markets. It also acts as a body appointed to promote the attraction of foreign investment in Italy.
With a dynamic, motivated and modern organisation, the ITA provides information, support, consulting, promotion and training for Italian small and medium-sized enterprises through its Rome office, Milan office and worldwide network – currently comprising 64 Offices and 14 Business Units in 66 countries. Thanks to the use of the most modern multi-channel communication and promotional tools, it works to affirm excellence Made in Italy worldwide.
To provide the greatest boost to the image of Italian products worldwide and Italy as a destination for foreign investment, the ITA operates abroad within Italian Diplomatic Representation and within Italy in close collaboration with regions, chambers of commerce and business organisations, ensuring coordinated support to businesses and national networks engaged in the process of internationalisation. The Agency carries out its activity according to the guidelines and strategic direction of the institutional Steering Committee.
www.ice.it/en

AEFI – Associazione Esposizioni e Fiere Italiane, a private non-profit Association, was established in 1983 with the goal of generating synergies between the most important Italian exhibition districts. 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 the internationalisation front, AEFI supports members thanks to agreements with strategic markets. To date, partnerships have been agreed with Iran, Taiwan, Lebanon, India, Thailand and South Africa, with AmCham, the American Chamber of Commerce in Italy, and with CENTREX, the International Exhibition Statistics Union. A memorandum of understanding has been signed with SACE and SIMEST. AEFI has promoted the foundation of ISFCert, the Certification Institute for Exhibition Industry Statistics which, through rigorous methodologies, enables Italian organisers to present and recognise standardised data, in the name of transparency and reliability.
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. Nearly all international and national trade fairs which take place each year in Italy are held in AEFI-member exhibition districts.
www.aefi.it/Aefi/site/en/index