Eleven operators from the Arab Emirates, Azerbaijan and Pakistan were welcomed on Monday 24th June in Bologna within the project Italian Fashion towards Dubai 2020.
Three days of b2b meetings and visits to regional fashion manufacturing centres were organized in order to introduce to them the 14 participating companies.
In the splendid setting of the Sala Affreschi in Villa Orsi, Lucia Gazzotti – president of Centergross – did the honours by welcoming the Italian companies and the foreign delegation.
This was followed by speeches by Claudio Pasini (Secretary General of Unioncamere Emilia-Romagna), Gianluca Baldoni (regional office for internationalization), Paola Frabetti (project manager for Unioncamere) and our president Giovanni Roncucci. The speeches emphasized the importance of the project and the creation of profitable relations between companies and institutions, especially in the field of internationalization and exploration of complex foreign markets.
Giampaolo Bruno (ICE Office Director in Dubai) and Stella Occhialini, Senior Project Manager of Roncucci&Partners, led the technical-operational phase of the event, presenting in detail the visiting operators and the Emilia-Romagna member companies, in order to offer participants a complete picture of the specific characteristics and potential of each interlocutor involved.
B2B MEETINGS and VISITS TO THE PRODUCTION SITES
After this first introductory phase and a light lunch in the park in front of the Villa, the b2b meetings between operators and companies began, which saw our company engaged in the role of technical advisor and language facilitator.
The meetings continued on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, in order to guarantee all participating companies the possibility of interfacing individually with the various foreign operators. During the two days, visits were also organised to some production sites in the area, the beating heart of the regional manufacturing sector.
THE PROFILE OF THE PARTICIPANTS
The participating companies, although presenting different specializations, share the same distinctive feature: the true Made in Italy. This concept, especially in the fashion sector, can be translated as creativity, passion and quality, characteristics that have made our production famous all over the world.
Made in Italy is linked both to the product’s “ingenious” ability to innovate and to the specific Italian ability to solve everyday challenges in a versatile and effective way, often with a strong component of craftsmanship and tradition handed down from generation to generation – characteristics that we could define as being typical of the Italian textile industry.
THE PROJECT
Promoted by Unioncamere Emilia-Romagna in collaboration with the Regional Chamber System, with co-financing from the Emilia-Romagna Region, the project sees the collaboration of Centergross Bologna as an entrepreneurial partner, Roncucci&Partners as advisor and the ITA (Italian Trade Agency) through its office in Dubai.
Italian Fashion towards Dubai 2020 proposes a series of promotional initiatives with the intention of bringing the attention of the world and the markets to the fashion products of our territory. In particular, the project aims to prepare and subsequently accompany regional fashion companies to the United Arab Emirates and the Gulf area.
As pointed out by Claudio Pasini, Secretary General of Unioncamere Emilia-Romagna, the fashion system plays a significant role because it is the second largest manufacturing sector in terms of export value and the fourth largest in terms of number of employees in the region.
TOWARDS DUBAI 2020
The World Expo 2020 in Dubai – which involves 180 nations with an estimated flow of 25 million visitors, 70% of whom coming from countries other than the host country – is predicted to start in approximately 15 months.
Expo 2020, for the first time organized in the Middle East, has as theme Connecting Minds, creating the Future, in close connection with the Arabic name of the city al-Waṣl (in Arabic ﺍﻟﻮﺻﻞ), which means “the connection”.
The event coincides with the celebration of the Golden Jubilee, the 50th anniversary of the UAE Foundation, thus increasing the global exposure and the importance of the event for the Emirates themselves.
The aim of the Emir of Dubai, in fact, seems to be to deliver to the city and the event a series of huge and memorable projects at a global level.
In addition to the Expo site (with an estimated value of 3 billion dollars and destined to become the new university centre at the end of the event) there is in fact a long list of great projects, most of which are still under construction. To name but a few: a hyperloop train (connecting Dubai to Abu Dhabi in 12 minutes) a new airport with an estimated annual flow of 160 million passengers, the future tallest skyscraper in the world and a complex of houses and shopping centres on the water, Aladdin City, inspired by the fables of Aladdin and Sinbad. Other projects are: the underground subway connecting the Expo pavilions; “The Frame”, a frame-shaped building formed by two towers about 150 meters high connected by a bridge and a shopping centre which is called “the mall of the world” since it is meant to become the largest in the world.
It is a feverish race to the record that the emirates expect to close by October 2020, offering a surprising spectacle to the world’s eyes.
