Milan - 16 June 2016 - Pietro Di Febo
The idea of creating a chamber of commerce became a reality in 1964. Both Italian business interests and state bodies responsible for foreign trade in the USSR felt the need for an organisation that could stimulate cooperation and improve relations between the two countries. Italy has always held a privileged position in commercial relations with Russia. It holds the second/third position in Europe and the third/fourth in the world, representing an extremely positive, long-lasting relationship which has been stimulated by significant investments by the most important Italian companies. There are also strong cultural ties and reciprocal respect between the two countries which have contributed to making the relationship even stronger and more secure than ever.
It was founded more than 50 years ago and was initially called the Italian-Soviet Chamber of Commerce. It was only in 1992 that it was renamed “Italian-Russian”. The chamber has contributed to the development of economic, commercial, scientific and cultural ties between Italy and the Russian Federation. It has a long history behind it which began in the days of the Soviet Union, when Russian companies had to refer to state trade corporations that managed the purchase of machinery and products directly from Italy. It’s for this reason that the CCIR has always played a fundamental role in commercial exchanges between the two countries.
This problem is most certainly understood by key figures in the Italian government, however, on a practical level the government is doing nothing because Italy is in the European Union. Italy would have been able to substitute to Turkey and Iran when it comes to trade in the agricultural-food sector, but because of the high cost of sanctions this has not been possible. The economic chain between Italy and Russia is breaking up because of a lack of strategy to help Italy maintain her privileged position in Europe regarding cooperation with Russia.
Recently there have been some positive signs and between June and September the whole sanctions system will be re-discussed.
However the cultural, technical and scientific aspects of cooperation have remained intact since 1972 when the then Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti personally inaugurated the headquarters of the CCIR in Moscow.
How is the Italian-Russian Chamber of Commerce helping Italian and Russian companies in this climate of uncertainty?
In order to encourage a climate of trust and bring about a fruitful collaboration between Italian and Russian businessmen, the CCIR offers a number of services on various levels:
These are specialist services that are not provided elsewhere in Italy. This moment of crisis has reinforced the ties between companies associated with the Chamber of Commerce and we will do our utmost to fulfil their requests and needs.
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