Calabria Road Show

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - CALABRIA REGION PROJECT FOR INTERNATIONALIZATION AND INVESTMENT ATTRACTION
-Construction, Agribusiness, Jewellery, Oil & Gas

On April 28th 2015, 11.30 am at Millennium Plaza Hotel in Dubai the Italian Industry & Commerce Office in the UAE (IICUAE) presented the Road Show of the Project United Arab Emirates for Internationalization and Investment Attraction,  by the Calabria Region

The Road Show of the Project United Arab Emirates for Internationalization and Investment Attraction was presented by:

Dr. Giovanni Favilli Consul General of Italy in Dubai
Roberta Calarese IICUAE Vice President and Group Chief Legal Officer at Majid Al Futtaim Holding
Paola  Aloe, Internationalization Sector High Officer   at the Calabria Region
Silvia Tropea  Junior Linguistic Expert at SPRINT Calabria

THE UAE-CALABRIA REGION PROJECT OBJECTIVES
The Project aims  to the promotion of investment opportunities in the Calabria Region and the internationalization of the Calabrian companies      in the UAE market.
The Project develops in four directions, covering strategic sectors for Italian growth perspectives inside the UAE market. The four sectors are Oil&Gas, Food, Jewellery and Home&Furniture.
 

ACTIONS:

ROAD SHOW IN THE UAE
The Chamber  organized a Road Show for the Calabria Region in the UAE for the promotion of the project and the opportunities for  investment in Calabria. The road show includes a stop in Dubai and Abu Dhabi

OIL & GAS
The IICUAE will establish the Oil & Gas Desk - Calabria Region. This should lead to the realization of a study on the market potential of each Italian firm involved in the  sector and  participating in the initiative.
The desk will be supervised by an industry expert, who will be the adviser of  the Calabria companies interested in entering the UAE market.
The aim of  the desk is to  support to the Calabria companies interested in starting new business in the Emirates with local partners and investors. 

FOOD
Two initiatives are dedicated to the Food Sector.
On the one side, the IICUAE will arrange Inbound Missions for Food sector companies in the UAE.
The IICUAE will select for each company, a number of potential local partners. Should the latter be effectively interested in the Italian products and in having a bilateral meeting, the Chamber will arrange for each company an agenda with all the B2B meetings between the Italian and Emirati operators.

On the other side, the IICUAE will take care of the promotion of the Calabria Food companies in its own bimonthly magazine Ospitalita’ Italiana.
The IICUAE publishes the English magazine Ospitalita’ Italiana, delivering about 3000 issues to 120 Italian restaurants between Dubai and Abu Dhabi, to prestigious UAE locations and to the main Food importers of the Gulf. Its objective is to promote the Made in Italy  brand in the Food sector,  as well as highlighting the Ospitalita’ Italiana Project, an initiative of Unioncamere, Isnart and Fipe, which is now at its fourth year thanks to the IICUAE contribution.

JEWELLERY
Dubai is the heart of the regional market and the city alone commands around 30% of the luxury market in the Middle East and around 60% of the UAE’s luxury market .
The Project aims to support the future of the jewellery industry by promoting networking opportunities, b2b meetings.

Home and Furniture
The IICUAE built a database of UAE operators (architects, interior designers). The setting up of this database will facilitate the selection of potential buyers, according to high qualitative and quantitative standards. Moreover, this should contribute to effectively choosing buyers whose profile matches with the  characteristics of the Italian participants. During the two days scheduled for the mission, the IICUAE  will organize B2B meetings between Calabrian companies and selected local operators.

BUSINESS PERSPECTIVE
The Italian presence in the UAE, one of the most lively and dynamic economic realities of the region, is composed by more than 300 firms with their own branch and numerous enterprises that operate via local agents. The potential for Italian production and services in the Emirati markets can benefit in the mid term from the high GDP per capita and from a considerable and lasting oil prosperity.
The UAE are confirmed for Italy as the main export market in the Middle East and North Africa region. According to Italian exports outside the European Union, the UAE holds the 9th place (2015).
During the last 35 years, the growth of trade relations between Italy and UAE has been nearly constant, notwithstanding the slight decrease in Italian export towards the country, in 2014 (Istat data, third quarter 2014).
An important increase in Italian export was registered in the Emirates, especially regarding the following sectors: machinery, equipment and tools; jewellery; metal and metal products. Furthermore, IT and electronics (+41,3%), food and agricultural industry (+39,5% compared with 2011) have witnessed a positive performance.

The table below clearly shows the constant growth of Italian export over the last 26 years as well as the importance of the Made in Italy brand in the UAE.
ISTAT data indicate that Italian exports to the UAE increased from EUR 267.592.575 to EUR 1,442,333,163 in the decade from 1988 to 1998, topping one billion euro in 1994. After the year 2000, growth rates grew until 2008, in conjunction with the global economic crisis.
Italian exports, after a setback of two years, started to grow again in 2010 and outperformed  the pre-crisis levels in 2012.