Visit of the President of Confindustria of Monza and Brianza Province
The Chairman of the Qatari Businessmen Association, Sheikh / Faisal Bin Qassim Al Thani, met with Mr. / Massimo Manelli, president of Confindustria of Monza and Brianza province, and his accompanying delegation, at QBA offices on December 5, 2012, followed by the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the two parties. The meeting was also attended by Mr. / Sherida Saad Jubran al-Kaabi, QBA board member.
Mr. Massimo Manelli thanked Sheikh Faisal for the meeting and introduced the province of Monza and Brianza that includes 90,000 industrial companies that are specialized in various areas including wood furniture industry, metal industry and manufacturing High-Tech products. This province is well known in the small and medium-sized companies that in turn focus on the quality of manufactured goods in order to be exported later on.
From his side, Sheikh Faisal Bin Qassim Al-Thani welcomed his guest Mr. Massimo Manelli, and talked about the history of relations between the two countries, where Italy is the second largest European exporter to Qatar due to the high quality of the Italian goods. Sheikh Faisal also noted that it is necessary for the Italian companies to maintain their high quality of their goods along with their prices, especially in the presence of the intense competition between the industries of other countries.
The two sides have also signed a memorandum of understanding to facilitate and expand the opportunities for cooperation between the two countries, and encourage direct contact between the businessmen of both countries aiming at promoting and developing commercial and industrial activities. The agreement also included supporting the exchange of information on the identification of industrial sectors and economic optimization of the business in both countries, and the exchange of delegations to view possible joint projects and promote them.
At the end of the meeting Mr. Massimo Manelli invited the members to visit the province of Monza and Brianza, and get acquainted with the available investment opportunities. Sheikh Faisal welcomed the invitation and confirmed the seriousness of Qatari businessmen in bringing to Qatar Italian factories that manufacture high-quality goods and have experience in the field of advanced and specialized industry.
It is worth noting that both Qatar and Italy are seeking to enhance cooperation and joint development of relations, where Qatar has allocated 1 billion euros to finance some of the Italian companies and help the Italian economy to overcome the recession experienced by some companies. Additionally, the total volume of trade exchange between the two countries amounts to 13 billion QR where Italy exports to Qatar reached 5.5 billion QR in 2011.