Business and personal: almost 95% of Italian manufacturing companies remained in Russia

Almost 95% of Italian companies with production facilities in Russia remained operating in the country, despite tough sanctions. Vittorio Torrembini, President of the Association of Italian Entrepreneurs in Russia, told Izvestia about this during the XVIII Verona Eurasian Economic Forum. According to him, business is already seeing a change in rhetoric towards Russia and hopes for a speedy correction of the situation, because the losses of Italians alone from the 19th package of sanctions could amount to €250 million. What else was discussed by the participants of the second and final day of the forum is in the Izvestia article.

Expanding cooperation between countries

The main topics of the second day of the XVIII Verona Eurasian Economic Forum, held in Istanbul, were ways to create corridors for cooperation, expand interaction between countries, despite the difficult geopolitical situation, as well as the formation of a single digital space. There was an impression that business was not focused on politics to a small extent, but, of course, no one could ignore it.

Vittorio Torrembini, president of the Association of Italian Entrepreneurs in Russia, told Izvestia that almost 95% of the country's companies with production facilities in Russia remained operating in the country, despite tough sanctions.

— To understand the scale, organizations can be roughly divided into two groups. The companies that have production facilities have remained in Russia for almost 95%, except, of course, Enel and Leonardo (formerly Finmeccanica). But there are noticeably fewer commercial structures due to the sanctions. But 50-60% of them are still working," he said.

According to him, all partnerships have been preserved, but new projects, of course, are not being launched. However, Italians are optimists by nature, so they hope that the situation will change soon. Businesses are already witnessing a change in rhetoric from both the EU and the United States, Vittorio Torrembini added.

— Right now we are starting to feel that something has changed. Firstly, Ukraine has become much weaker, and secondly, America has shown that it is not very interested in escalation. Now, in this sense, the structure is very unstable — sooner or later it will fall completely," he noted.

However, for now, entrepreneurs continue to incur losses. According to the expert, only the 19th package of sanctions can cost the Italian business about 250 million euros. The restrictions affect the supply of plumbing fixtures, toys with electric motors, children's bicycles, scooters, dolls, roses and other products. Only due to the EU ban on the export of toilets and bidets to Russia, Italy risks losing about 140 million euros. Italy is actually the main supplier of plumbing products to the Russian market.

A dialogue was opened: the new energy order and Russia's role in it were discussed in Istanbul

More than 1,000 experts from 30 countries are participating in the XVIII Verona Eurasian Economic Forum.

The economy is not without politics

The Verona Eurasian Economic Forum has been forced to wander the world for many years because of negative Western rhetoric. The head of the World Ethnosports Confederation, businessman and son of Turkish President Necmeddin Bilal Erdogan described this situation as double standards of the EU.

— The European Union continues to use double standards, whether it is cooperation with Russia or with Israel. And this causes extreme irritation," he said.

According to him, Europe lacks a strategic vision, talking about the negotiation process between Russia and Ukraine with the mediation of Turkey.

— Both Moscow and Kiev are close to us in economic, historical, and social terms. Therefore, Turkey's mediation role was commendable, it was realistic negotiations that opened up opportunities... But for Europe, these negotiations looked like a way to put pressure on Russia and weaken it," he said.

According to him, the EU considers Russia as a threat. And if earlier questions about cooperation with the Russian Federation were considered, some collaborations were created, they tried to involve the country in some way, now they are pushing it away.

— This is fundamentally wrong. That is why it is important to say that Russia is an integral part of Europe. This could be a solution to many problems, because Russia is in many ways a Western country, although we seem to have forgotten about this in recent years. I can only explain this by the lack of strategic vision of the European Union. And the failure of the negotiations in Istanbul is largely due to the position of Boris Johnson and the United Kingdom. Strong pressure was exerted on Ukraine so that the country would not enter into agreements," he said.

However, according to Antonio Fallico, President of the Let's Explore Eurasia Association, the main idea of the forum is dialogue and it should always be sought.

— We must learn not only to listen, but also to hear our interlocutor. This is important not only for peace, but also for economic progress," he said.

Indeed, on the second day, the participants of the discussion platform actively exchanged opinions on the development of artificial intelligence and digital technologies. These issues became one of the main issues of the final day of the forum.

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Digitalization with intelligence

According to industry analysts, artificial intelligence will become a mandatory technological solution that will be used by more than 70% of industrial companies, said Alexander Shokhin, President of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP).

The technologies of tomorrow are rather technologies for improving production and improving work in the markets. But with the introduction of AI, a social issue is becoming quite acute today, added Mikhail Popov, Deputy head of the Chairman of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Committee on Scientific, Educational and Innovation Policy, Vice President of the Pipe Metallurgical Company.

— Factories without people, transport without drivers, and so on will lead to a serious redistribution of the labor market. It is possible that deserted cities will be added to deserted factories, so it is necessary to work with this trend. Big business also has a social responsibility: when shaping the living environment of our employees, we must understand what awaits them tomorrow," he said. — Today we need to think about retraining people and changing their life priorities.

According to Alexander Shokhin, the digital financial asset market is also actively developing today, which has already reached 1 trillion rubles. In the current context of the Central Bank's monetary policy, digital assets are a real opportunity for businesses to attract financing. In addition, digital and digital currency are becoming an integral part of international settlements, he noted.

— Digital, in particular hybrid digital financial assets, can be linked to financial and real assets. For example, to gold, other precious metals and, possibly, to some cryptoassets, and then to the most sought-after commodities, commodities such as oil, grain and a number of others. This will allow us to build a new flexible, trusted global financial system based on real value and protected by blockchain technologies," he said.

Given the changing global situation, the Russian Federation today focuses on reducing the transfer of foreign technologies, and is committed to import substitution and import-technological independence, the head of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs added. As a result of this independence, the Russian Federation is developing high-tech solutions in a number of industries, and a series of so-called national technological leadership projects are being implemented. So, last year the volume of the Russian IT market exceeded 3 trillion rubles, about 80% of companies work on domestic software.

According to Igor Rastorguev, a leading analyst at AMarkets, the forum's focus on information technology has become quite logical — modern industry can no longer exist without digitalization. For example, their implementation only in the oil and gas sector makes it possible to reduce unplanned equipment downtime by 15-20% and increase production by 10%. Similar actions are used in other industries.