On 5 June, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Antonio Tajani, chaired together with the Indian Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal, the Bresica “Growth Forum” and the Italy-India Joint Economic Committe.
“In continuity with the Business Forum that I attended in New Delhi last April, the Forum in Brescia underscores Italy’s commitment to strengthening the excellent ties with India: a key partner for us, especially in such a complex geopolitical scenario. It is essential to provide our companies with an increasingly favourable framework for seizing trade and investment opportunities, intensifying trade and investment flows,” said the Deputy Prime Minister.
Before kicking off the work of the Joint Economic Committee and the Italy-India Business Forum, Tajani and Goyal together visited the Brescia waste-to-energy plant of the A2A Group, one of Italy’s leading players in the energy transition and circular economy sectors.
“We are committed to promote our territories and their economic potential. This is why I chose the city of Brescia, the sixth most export-oriented province in Italy, which in 2024 alone exported 20 billion worth of goods,‘ said Tajani, adding that ’it is an international recognition of Italian excellence to be able to host the Business Forum at the Santa Giulia Museum, which is a site on the UNESCO World Heritage List”.
The Brescia Business Forum focused on four priority areas of collaboration: industry 4.0 and advanced manufacturing; transport; energy transition and circular economy; and space. The Forum brought together over 400 participants including companies, institutions and trade associations. It featured around 170 B2B meetings between Italian and Indian companies. Main goal: support the strengthening and the development of new business opportunities for companies and joint initiatives. Also with an eye at increasing the trade exchange between Italy and India: it exceeded EUR 14 billion in 2024, with Italian exports growing by over 30% in the last seven years.
The Italy-India Joint Economic Committee and Business Forum were also attended by high-level representatives of business associations and government agencies of the two Countries, including Confindustria, ICE, CDP, SACE, SIMEST, Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FICCI), Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and the Italy-India Association for Cooperation between the two countries.
The centrality of the India-Europe Middle East Economic Corridor (IMEC) project for the development of infrastructural, energy and digital interconnectivity between Europe and India, and the importance of concluding an EU-India free trade agreement as soon as possible, was also aknowledge during the event.
