After joining President Javier Milei in his meeting with the Federal Chancellor of Germany, Olaf Scholz, in Berlin, Foreign Minister Mondino arrived today in Milan, where she had a busy schedule of meetings and events with political, economic and financial representatives of the Italian Republic. During her activities, the Foreign Minister was accompanied by the Governor of the Province of Chubut, Ignacio Torres; the Argentine Ambassador to Italy, Marcelo Giusto; and the Argentine Consul General to Milan, Luis Palbo Niscovolos. Juan Carlos Doncel Jones, president of ENARSA, was also part of the delegation.
First, Foreign Minister Mondino met with the president of the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Argentina, Giorgio Alliata di Montereale, and its CEO, Claudio Farábola, with whom she discussed concrete opportunities for increasing bilateral trade and Argentine exports. In addition, she offered an overview of the significant development of the energy sector in Argentina, which gives rise to new investment opportunities, especially after the economic reforms promoted by the Argentine Government.
The Italian Chamber of Commerce in Argentina (CCI) was founded in 1884 and its main objective is to promote trade relations and exchange of information between both countries. The Chamber is a founding member of the Argentine Eurochamber, which gathers 16 bilateral chambers of commerce between Argentina and European countries. It is also a member of "Assocamerestero", an association of 77 Italian chambers of commerce in 54 countries, and serves as focal point of the Enterprise Europe Network, the world's largest support network for SMEs, which helps Argentine companies innovate and grow on a global scale. For the past 20 years, the CCI has been participating in numerous cooperation programmes with international donors (EU and IDB, among others) for public and private institutions.
Then, the Foreign Minister held a working meeting with the president of the Lombardy Region, Attilio Fontana, and the region's Undersecretary for International Relations, Raffaele Cattaneo, with whom she discussed the Argentine Government's decision to integrate into the world and seek further trade and investments, particularly in the energy sector. In this regard, the Lombardy authorities highlighted concrete opportunities to increase trade between Argentina and this powerful Italian region.
Lombardy comprises 12 provinces (Milan, Lodi, Monza and Brianza, Pavia, Lecco, Como, Sondrio, Varese, Bergamo Bergamo, Brescia, Mantova and Cremona) and it is the most important manufacturing region in Italy, as it concentrates 17% of the country's population and accounts for 20% of Italy's GDP and 25% of its exports.
Finally, the Foreign Minister was received by executives of INTESA Sanpaolo Bank, one of the main banking groups in Europe. Mondino conveyed to them the Argentine Governmen’'s views and explained the different measures it is adopting to promote foreign trade, investment attraction and the strengthening of economic ties.
Intesa Sanpaolo is a leading company in all business areas in Italy (commercial, corporate and asset management) and has a significant global presence, with 900 branches, 7.3 billion clients and subsidiary banks operating in 12 countries in Central and Eastern Europe, as well as parts of the Middle East and North Africa.
