Perm is hosting Italian businessmen

Photo by Ekaterina Papulova

The Italian businessmen joining the Sicily Days in Perm present foods, designer fashion, tourist services and other produce from Italy. A number of events on their visit programme are open to the wide public. 

Sicily Days in Perm running November 19-22 have been  supported by  Sicily regional authorities and local administration of Agrigento, a twin-city of Perm. The presentation of the Italian region has been organized in partnership by the Perm Trade-and-Industry Chamber and  the Youth Center (Ul.Sibiskaya, 27a) 

The programme involves B2B meetings for companies, tasting of foods produced in Sicily, presentations by tourist companies, master-classes by Italian chefs, fashion show and other events. 

The press conference at the opening ceremony featured the Deputy of the Russia’s Parliament Igor Sapko, Chair of Perm City Council Yuri Utkin, President of the Perm Trade-and – Industry Chamber Oleg Zhdanov,  who emphasized the importance of bilateral relations with Sicily and the need not only to promote  cultural and educational projects, but also develop business contacts. 

The Italian delegation includes 12 members representing services and tourism industries, fashion and design, as well as producers of traditional Sicilian products – olive oil, sauces, tinned food and candies, and a winemaker.

The head of the delegation Salvatore Gozzi, department chief in the Sicily regional administration, notes that Russia is one of the countries attractive for Sicilian  small and medium businesses. He also stresses that the contacts between Perm and Sicily have been developing very dynamically in the recent years. 

The city of Agrigento, located in the south of Sicily, has been an official twin-city of Perm since 2012. The first contacts between the two cities were established as a culture link  as early as in 1990s. Starting 2012 creative groups from Perm have become a regular part of The Russia’s Days festival in Sicily. 

- It is for the first time in the history of our links that we are hosting a business delegation. Agrigento is our very successful partner in culture, including various festivals, exhibitions, education projects of the universities and institutes. We have now started to involve business and we hope the B2B meetings organized by the Perm Trade-and-Industry Chamber together with Economic Development and Industrial Policy Department at Perm City Administration will further promote  these contacts,” notes Tatyana Grigorieva, head of International and Inter-municipal Links Department of Perm City Administration.