Italy guest of honour at Shanghai Technology Fair

(AGI) Beijing, April 21 - Italy will be taking part in the Shanghai International Technology Fair. This brings together the Education Ministry, the Foreign Ministry, the Ministry for the Environment and Economic Development, the Italian foreign trade agency (ICE) and more than 60 representatives if Italian businesses, university and research centres. Italy is the guest of honour this year at the fair which ends on Apr. 23. Minister for Education, University and Research, Stefania Giannini, opened the event with Chinese Minister for Science and Technology, Wan Gang.

Scientific and technological collaboration between Italy and China has grown in the past decade, with more than 500 agreements between Italian and Chinese research centres. The theme for Italy's participation this year is smart cities, which was at the heart of Shanghai's Expo 2010, with particular focus on sustainable urbanisation in line with the priorities identified by the Italian-Chinese Intergovernmental Committee. Meetings included minister Giannini and the Mayor of Shanghai, Yang Xiong, and minister Wan Gang. Undersecretary for the Environment, Barbara Degani, and the director general for the promotion of Italy, Vincenzo De Luca, took part in a roundtable discussion on bilateral collaboration in science and technology. April 22 will mark the first foreign event of the Italian business in China roadshow, with the Foreign Ministry, Italian foreign trade agency, the SACE export credit group and SIMEST Italian agency for businesses abroad taking part. More than 100 Italian businesses will also be present. (AGI).
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