A worldwide tour to present Milan Expo 2015 kicked off this week in London, Beijing and Washington.
Italy presented the food-themed world fair to be held in the Italian financial capital next year at a conference on Climate, Food and Human Health in the British capital on Monday and inaugurated an eight-city roadshow to sponsor the initiative in China on Wednesday.
Meanwhile Industry Minister Federica Guidi will be in Washington on Friday to discuss Expo-related business opportunities and commercial relations between Italy and the US.
In London, Lombardy Governor Roberto Maroni said not enough has been done so far to stop counterfeiting in Italy and said the battle against counterfeit food will be a key issue of Expo 2015.
The theme of Milan Expo 2015, which runs from May 1 to October 31 next year, is "Feeding the planet: Energy for Life", and deals with food security, fighting hunger, and promoting global food-production practices that are economically, environmentally and socially sustainable. The fair "must be the occasion to define more effective policies and coordination" to deal with counterfeiting, also in terms of food security, Maroni said.
The objective is a European international anti-counterfeiting protocol on which Lombardy and the Italian government have worked, the governor noted, stressing the financial damage produced by the phenomenon.
The Italian market for counterfeit goods generates an annual turnover of 6.5 billion euros, producing losses worth 5.3 billion in tax revenues, a government study found last month.
Food products - along with clothing, CDs and software - are the hardest hit, with copied clothes and accessories accounting for a turnover of 2.24 billion euros, or 34.3% of the total. CDs, DVDs, and software generated 1.79 billion euros in sales, or 27.3%, while food came in at 1 billion euros, or 15.8%.
The same products produced legally would have contributed 17.7 billion euros to national GDP, generated 6.4 billion euros in added value, and created 105,000 jobs, the study found.
Organizers for Milan Expo 2015 also launched Wednesday in Beijing a roadshow to eight cities in eight different provinces of China to drum up interest and further boost sales beyond the million tickets already sold to Chinese tour operators.
Over one out of the five million Expo tickets already bought have been sold in China, a country that will have three pavilions at the food-themed event.
"China is a great agricultural country, with a long history of food culture", making it an ideal partner for the event, said Wang Jinzhen, director of China's participation in Expo 2015.
The 4,590 sq meter Chinese state pavilion in the Expo site - an area of more than 100 hectares near Milan's huge Rho Pero trade fair exhibition center- is the second biggest after Germany's.
It is just one of three being created in a complex of Chinese pavilions with the other two representing Chinese corporate interests - including top real estate business China Vanke and the China Corporate pavilion representing a group of 20 Chinese companies. China's overall investment is reportedly worth 60 million euros with Milan Expo marking the first time the country takes part in a Universal Exposition outside of Asia.
Meanwhile on Friday Industry Minister Federica Guidi will be in Washington for a round of events aimed at promoting the fair, organized by the Lombardy region, the Italian embassy and the Friends of US pavilion group, which is reportedly vying to raise 50 million dollars from the private sector for the project.
On the agenda, among other things, are two events to illustrate business opportunities for US firms at Expo 2015, the industry ministry said ahead of the trip.
Leading corporate sponsors for the USA pavilion in Milan include General Electric, Uvet, Dupont, 3M, McKinsey and Illy.
Guidi is scheduled to meet Deputy Secretary of Commerce Bruce Andrews to analyze, among other things, "excellent progress in bilateral relations", with Italy's trade surplus with the US worth over 22 billion dollars, the industry ministry said in a statement.
Also on the agenda of talks will be the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) free-trade agreement currently being negotiated between the European Union and the United States "which could contribute to a GDP growth estimated at 120 billion euros for Europe and 90 billion for the US, with specific benefits for Italy", according to the statement.
During her visit, Guidi is scheduled to meet Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz, the new Italian executive director at the World Bank Patrizio Pagano and members of the Inter-American development Bank.
The trip will wrap up on Saturday with an event scheduled by the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF), an organization representing 20 million Italian Americans living in the US.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
