(Adnkronos) – The European Unon’s 800 billion euro plan to strengthen it security “is an opportunity for our industry”, Italy’s foreign minister Antonio Tajani said in opening remarks to a conference on chemical innovation held at Villa Madama in Rome on Friday.
“Internationalisation, innovation, research, and the medical industry are interconnected, and anyone who makes disconnected policy is woefully mistaken,” Tajani told the Chemical Innovation as a Multiplier of Internationalisation and Competitiveness conference.
“I believe that we want, together with you, to help our country” Tajani said in his address to the conference attended by industry minister Adolfo Urso, universities and research minister Anna Maria Bernini, and Federchimica president Francesco Buzzella.
“We are living through a moment of change with two wars which affect both industry and exports. There is the issue of tariffs and the European Council’s decision to strengthen European security,” said Tajani.
Security “is a broad concept, involving many industrial sectors, including the chemical industry – which I have always supported – as well as the cyber and steel industries,” he said.
“We must seize the opportunities for economic growth, and industry must be increasingly innovative. We must take advantage of a complicated situation,” Tajani went on.
“The same goes for exports, we have to understand what will happen and the current tariff war is not good, but we have to find strategies. We must have an industrial policy,” Tajani underlined.
Tajani and his team are “working hard” to reform the foreign ministry to give it political, economic and security and technology specialisations, he he said.
“The ministry will be more and more useful to Italians and to an ever-more solid policy of growth,” Tajani said
“in all this, chemistry is very important for exports and innovation makes us more optimistic, even in spite of duties,” Tajani said.
There will be a fact-finding mission to the United States “to offer as many guarantees as possible for you to do what you have to do,” he said.
The chemical industry is one of the pillars of Italy’s economy and a key factor in the country’s international competitiveness, with exports worth €40 billion in 2024, according to a foreign ministry statement.
The chemical industry is a pillar of Italy’s economy and a key factor in the country’s international competitiveness, with exports worth €40 billion in 2024, according to a foreign ministry statement.
Chemistry plays a central role in innovation, enabling many other industries- from pharmaceuticals to electronics and automotive to aerospace – to compete globally and it is also a key sector for processes in the green transition, the statement noted.
Key conference speakers include Stefano Pontecorvo, President of Leonardo SpA; Alessandra Ricci, Chief Executive Officer of SACE; Matteo Zoppas, President of Italian Trade Agency (ITA); Giovanna Iannantuoni, President of the Conference of Italian University Rectors (CRUI) and Rector of the University of Milano-Bicocca; Regina Corradini d’Arienzo, Chief Executive Officer of states service provided SIMEST; and Dario Scannapieco, Chief Executive Officer of state lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP), the statement said.
During the conference, Federchimica will unveil a report that aims to highlight the strategic role of research and development in the chemical sector as an essential driver of competitiveness for both Italian and European industry, according to the statement.
The conference will continue with roundtables on: the internationalisation of the Italian chemical industry; the role of international cooperation in chemical research; and the acceleration of investment in the sector.
