On July 5 and 6, the Chinese Trade and Investment Promotion Delegation dispatched by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce visited Italy to hold business talks, do exchange and promotion.

With 300 members from more than 200 enterprises over 20 provinces of China, it is one of the biggest business delegations that have been sent to Italy in years. Of the enterprises, there are powerful large enterprises and many SMEs with capability of overseas investment and international operation and an interest in exploring overseas market, ranging from machinery, electronics, communications, automobile, textiles, light industry, food, finance & tourism service, etc.

Business talks between Chinese and Italian governments, trade associations and enterprises have all made progress. Quite a number of cooperation agreements and LOIs were signed, which covered such areas as high tech, two-way investment, cooperation in service trade, and cooperation in such new fields as energy conservation and environmental protection, industrial park, creative industry, etc.

Leaders of the two countries attached great importance to the visit. Chinese President Hu Jintao and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi attended the China-Italy Trade and Economic Cooperation Forum & Enterprise Symposium co-sponsored by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce and Italian Ministry of Economic Development, and delivered important speeches with a theme of further promoting China-Italy trade and economic cooperation. Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming and Italian Economic Development Minister Claudio Scajola and head of the trade and investment promotion agencies and chambers of commerce of the two countries also delivered speeches.

With communication well done, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce and Italian Ministry of Economic Development signed the Memorandum of Understanding on Promoting Investment and Cooperation, MOU on further Promoting China-Italy Hi-tech Cooperation, and MOU on Setting up Environmental Protection Work Team in Trade and Economic Field under Trade and Economic Mixed Commission. This is an occasion when the biggest number of agreements covering a widest range of interest between Chinese government and Italian government were signed.

During the visit, about 500 Italian enterprises and more than 200 Chinese enterprises had extensive, in-depth and practical negotiations which have led to the signing of more than 30 contracts and LOIs by the Chinese and Italy business.

The achievement made during the visit by the Chinese business delegation to Italy show that it gave a full use of complementary nature of industries of the two countries, deepened bilateral economic and trade cooperation. It is helpful for China's industrial restructuring and technological progress.