Cape Town - Stimulating the country’s agri-business sector is one of the key focuses at this year’s South Africa-Italy Summit taking place in the city.
This is according to European House-Ambrosetti senior partner Paolo Borzatta.
The European House-Ambrosetti created the think tank to strengthen ties between the two countries. The summit started yesterday and will be concluded today at the Mount Nelson Hotel.
Borzatta said the main reason they decided to initiate the summit in South Africa was their involvement with many projects in the country over the past few years.
“Five years ago, we realised that in the next 20 years, the amount of investment in sub-Saharan Africa will be around $200 trillion. This continent will be one of the most vibrant places in the world. This is one of the youngest regions in the world, with the strongest growth in investment,” said Borzatta.
He added the biggest challenges when doing business in a country were understanding the local culture, but Italy and South Africa shared similar types of traditions and cultural institutions.
Borzatta said with Italy’s experience in small farming, they planned to get farming associations in Italy to invest in South Africa’s farms and help with the development of more farms.
“The point is not to create farms, but to create ways to manage it.”
One of the challenges in sub-Saharan farming is sustainable production and processing chain supplies.
Borzatta said while bigger farms have the knowledge and infrastructure to run a farm, this is a challenge for smaller farms and this is where they hoped to assist South Africa.
At yesterday’s media conference for the summit, Italy’s Ambassador to South Africa Vincenzo Schioppa Narrante said the aim of the summit was to establish a partnership in South Africa and share their know-how with local partners.
“Start manufacturing together, and you will see your product ‘made with Italy’ breaking through all around Africa,” he said.
Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies will be one of the speakers at the summit today.
His department said the summit would provide a unique opportunity for the top management of South African and Italian companies to take the leading role in the growing market of sub-Saharan Africa.
“The plan is for the summit to become an annual gathering for political, government and business leadership of South Africa and Italy, where business opportunities will be discussed.”
@ladynikki2
CAPE TIMES