The Secretary General of the Union of Arab Chambers, Dr. Khaled Hanafy, pointed out the depth of the historical and cultural ties that bind Italy with the Arab world, pointing out that "when it comes to heritage, Italy and the Arab world are placed on the global ranks."
Hanafy explained that "during the ninth century, the Arabs brought arts and sciences through trade to Italian lands, and to this day it is still possible to find the heritage of the Arabic language in several terms borrowed from it and is still used in Italy and the Arab world."
Hanafy's words came during a seminar held on September 14th via the "video conference" feature, on the sidelines of the annual Rabatana festival organized by the municipality of Torcy with the support of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), and the Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei Foundation (FEEM), under the title "Promoting investment through trade and heritage", with the participation of the Assistant Secretary-General and the head of the economic sector at the League of Arab States, Dr. Kamal Hassan Ali, and the Director of the Arab Organization for Agricultural Development, Dr. Ibrahim Al-Dakhiri, Mr. Giuseppe Romanillo, Director General of Basilicata University, Dr. Hashem Hussain, Head of the UNIDO Investment and Technology Office in Bahrain, in addition to prominent Arab and foreign economic figures.
Hanafy stressed that "the symposium represents an important opportunity to reaffirm the strategic cultural, economic, and commercial relations between Italy and the Arab world, as well as to affirm sincere intentions in strengthening economic, social and cultural ties."
He stressed that "the common heritage has a pivotal role in strengthening the Arab-Italian economic partnership," calling for "the importance of strengthening the economic partnership based on mutual trust, respect, and common heritage. We, in the Union of Arab Chambers, which is the true representative of the Arab private sector, are ready to move forward towards reaching the Arab-Italian relationship towards new horizons to serve our common development goals."
Noting "the need to continue building on the gains achieved by economic and cultural relations," he stressed "the importance of the role that the joint Arab-Italian Chamber of Commerce plays in strengthening our relations at all levels."
He said, "There are many areas for expanding the volume of mutual investments and for expanding and intensifying the partnership between our two countries, and at this level, for the sake of prosperity in trade, we need to build on the common Arab-Italian heritage, in order to deepen our partnership and expand cooperation in priority joint projects and new sectors such as infrastructure, smart agribusiness, manufacturing and digital e-commerce."
He explained that, "Despite the difficulties the world is experiencing due to the Corona pandemic, we have seen how digital technology helps in combating the Coronavirus, as evidence showed how the pandemic helped expand digital services and mitigate the effects on economies at the present time and boost growth later."
Hanafy said, "Innovation is one of the main factors affecting the knowledge economy, as dynamic digital changes often play a positive factor in the business environment and for this our companies must have a great ability to adapt in the market."
Source (Union of Arab Chambers)
