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Home > ÖSTERREICH > Geschftsveranstaltungen
INTERNATIONAL FAIR OF TRIPOLI: A DECISIVE OPPORTUNITY FOR ITALIAN PRODUCTS
Rome (Ign) - Italian products in Libya are more than just an appreciated reality; we can say that they are part of a real commercial tradition, which grows in strength year by year. It is thus natural that Italy will also play a leading role in the forthcoming international affair of Tripoli, to be held between 2 and 12 April 2007. This is the most important fair event in the Libyan Jamahiriya and is dedicated to instrumental goods, durable consumer goods and mass-market consumer goods (www.tripolifair.org/English/main.htm). The pavilion organised by the Italian Institute for Foreign Trade (ICE) to host the Italian collective delegation will cover an area of over 1000 square metres.
Italy is today Libya's leading supplier, with a quota of 18% of imports to the North African country. The sectors in which the Italian presence is most significant are those of farming and industrial machinery (above all for the processing of metal, plastic and wood and packaging), in addition to food products and clothing. Meanwhile Libya, with the entry into service of the new Trans-Mediterranean gas pipeline, has become the seventh largest supplier of primary energy sources to Italy. The fair in Tripoli will thus be an opportunity to extend the business of Italian products which in 2006 began to really take off. The Libyan market in fact represents for Italy an opportunity of primary importance, not only because of its geographical closeness but because the Libyan population, made up of almost 6 million people, is tending to grow at a steady rate and is characterised by a significantly lower average age than in Europe.
Italy, moreover, boasts a presence in Libya which is the result of decades of development. There are over 60 Italian companies present in the country, some of them extremely well consolidated, such as Eni, which has been working there since 1959; or Fiat, through its subsidiary Iveco, which has set up an important plant for the construction of commercial vehicles. There are also many companies in the sector of construction materials. The prospects are undoubtedly interesting, also because of the policies developed by the Libyan government aimed at the development of "non-oil" industrial activities. There are four sectors in which particularly dynamic Italian intervention is expected in the future. Above all, farming, where Italy can provide agricultural and irrigation machinery and technology at the international forefront. Secondly, the sector of fishing equipment and the cold storage chain, in which Italy also has a significant presence on a world level. Thirdly, telecommunications that are expected to be developed with particular intensity over coming years. Lastly, we find the traditional oil sector, with Italy holding a leading position in the world league table of technological innovation and know-how for oil platform management.
The growth in coming years of the Italian commercial and industrial presence in Libya would moreover be coherent with the positive tendencies assumed by Italian exports in the world at large. According to Istat figures on foreign trade, exports have shown an increase of 8.8% on 2005. As far as regards individual countries, exports have grown mostly towards Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and Poland. Significant trade increases were recorded in December towards Germany (10.7%) and Spain (8.7%), which led to increased Italian GDP. The sectors where Italy has recovered are those of products in metal, textiles-clothing, machines and apparatus, and leather, glass and ceramics. Lastly, there has been important growth in the average unit values of the individual goods, in addition to growth in the quantities exported (+1.1%), something which had not happened for a number of years. The competition from Asian countries has in fact triggered off a process of growth of the Italian industrial system, which has focused everything on quality and on the higher target of the market.
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