Press release issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Antonio Tajani holds at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Farnesina), in the Aldo Moro Room, a press conference presenting the Italy-China Joint Economic Committee (Commissione Economica Mista, CEM), the bilateral Business and Dialogue Forum (Verona, 11-12 April) and an event celebrating the figure of Marco Polo and the relations between Italy and China, scheduled to take place on 11 April at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. Wang Wentao, Minister of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China, will attend the events.

The Italy-China Joint Economic Committee (CEM) is the main instrument for economic and trade cooperation with China and is one of the dialogue mechanisms of the Global Strategic Partnership established in 2004. Since 2019, the CEM is coordinated and organised on the Italian side by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Farnesina) and is held at ministerial level.

The Italy-China Business and Dialogue Forum aims to provide a forum for dialogue and the promotion of economic cooperation in priority sectors, which are also on the CEM’s agenda (agritech, e-commerce, investment, pharmaceutical and biomedical). In addition to Minister Tajani and Minister Wentao, representatives of the Italian Trade Agency (ICE), of Confindustria and of their Chinese counterparts – which are members of the Business Forum’s Technical Secretariat – will take the floor, as will members of the internationalisation hub (SACE, SIMEST, CDP) and of selected Italian and Chinese companies.