TAIWAN: A STRATEGIC MARKET FOR ITALIAN TRADE FAIRS

As part of the 6th Italy–Taiwan Meeting, held in Rome on Monday, 24 October and featuring the participation of various Administrations, Universities, Associations and important bodies in the area, there was also talk of Trade Fairs.

At the meeting, moderated by the Director General of International Commercial Policy at the Italian Ministry of Economic Development, Amedeo Teti, and by the Director General for Foreign Affairs at the Taiwanese Ministry of Economic Affairs, Jen-ni Yang, a contribution was also made by Loredana Sarti, AEFI General Secretary, who illustrated the activities of the association, dwelling on the initiatives dedicated to the internationalisation of the Italian Trade Fair System in relation to the Taiwanese market specifically.

Last year, AEFI signed an important agreement with TECA, the Taiwan Exhibition and Convention Association, part of the process of internationalisation of the Italian trade fair sector pursued by the Association.
The memorandum aims to contribute to economic growth by pooling, on one hand, the specific experience of AEFI Members in organising events dedicated to specific sectors and, on the other, the growth in interest and business opportunities offered by the economy of the two countries.

Since the signing of the MoU, occasions for meeting and exchange have been organised between the management of AEFI and TECA – in November 2015 and July this year – as well as missions, meetings and seminars that have promoted networking and generated many new contacts for the development of the 194 Italian international exhibitions.

Taiwan is a strategic market and highly important for commercial relations, and the Taiwanese trade fair system – which has more than 220 exhibitions each year attracting more than 200,000 foreign operators – is investing heavily in developing exhibition districts. Two new venues are also set to open in 2018, in Nangang and Taichung.

Among the first significant results are the collaborations undertaken with TAITRA, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council, by BolognaFiere, to develop all exhibitions in the portfolio, and by Veronafiere, for a specific project dedicated to Cosmobike.

AEFI – the Italian Exhibition and Trade Fair Association – was set up in 1983 with a view to generating synergies between the most significant Italian exhibition districts. 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, Administrative-Legal 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. Most international trade fairs, and 85% of all trade fairs, which take place each year in Italy, are held in AEFI-member exhibition districts.