Italy shows keen interest in collaborating with Bengal over jewellery & tourism

Kolkata: The Italian business delegation that had attended the recently concluded Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS), has shown keen interest in the handcrafted jewellery of Bengal.

Famous Italian jewellery brand iLTari was represented by Florina Marino, head of marketing. She emphasised that Italy and India have striking similarities where handcrafted designs are concerned, which are coveted and known across the world.

People looking for traditional jewellery items seek products from these two nations as they offer exquisite unique designs from a huge workforce of skilled craftsmen. "iLTari is open to explorations with Indian designers and jewellery houses and looks to engage in joint collaborative projects here in Bengal," she stated. The visit of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to Milan in September 2018 culminated in a series of direct interactions with diverse Italian regional representations and exchange of business ideas with businessmen looking for fresher markets and investment opportunities.

Following her encouraging visit, BGBS 2019 saw the stepping up of more regional participation from Caserta, near Naples. The 19 member delegation was in Bengal looking for business interest in areas like dairy products, plastics, business services, freight forwarding, building materials and construction.

Internal markets in Italy have become saturated and the delegation was here looking for fresher, newer markets. Having found the Chief Minister very enthusiastic and decisive in her approach, individual provinces in Italy are now looking at regional or provincial collaborations rather than a national level one.

Heading the Caserta delegation, Luigi Traettino, president of Confindustria Caserta, stated that since Bengal has a booming real estate environment, he was here looking to collaborate with developers in the sector. "Most people in India and the rest of the world identify Italy with well-established tourist spots like Rome, Milan, Venice, Sicily, Pompeii, Vatican and Pisa but the relatively unknown provinces have much to offer by way of tourism as well. So, tourism was a prime focus area to be here," Luigi stated.