Bringing Turkish companies to Gustus Exhibition in order to develop commercial relations between Turkey and Italy, The Italian Institute for Foreign Trade ICE works intensively to increase Turkey’s acquaintance with Italian brands in the following period and enable Italian brands to be present in Turkish market more. Stating that they are evaluating the exhibitions both in Italy and Turkey, ICE Agenzia Director Aniello MUSELLA said they would like to work for IDMA Exhibition too.
The Italian Institute for Foreign Trade ICE which is a part of Trade Promotion Department of The Consulate General of Italy works for developing the commercial relations between Turkey and Italy. They consider Turkey as a potential market for many products manufactured in Italy. Their target is to increase Turkey’s acquaintance with Italian brands in the following period and enable Italian brands to be present in Turkish market more. ICA Agenzia Director Aniello MUSELLA is quite decisive and happy for this. He shares his ideas about Turkish market, their activities as ICE and their targets through our conversation.
Mr. Musella, Could you please tell us your ideas about the presence of ICE in Turkey and Turkish market?
ICE Agenzia is a public institution which has been active in Turkey since 1980. The institution has further developed its relations with Turkish institutions especially recently. I have been in Turkey for a month and seen a lot of contacts available. However I think these contacts can be developed more because I’ve also seen that people here are interested in developing their contacts too. Therefore I believe we will perform much more activities in the future.
Do you think the relations that have been developed so far are adequate? In what areas Turkey has a potential?
Considering the demand in Turkey, I do not think the relations have developed enough. Actually, this is what my friends who have been working in ICE for years told me. I also see that. I think the potential is larger in Turkey, especially in certain sectors and the commercial relations can be further developed. For instance, in gluten-free and flour products, bakery products, olive oil, Italian coffee or wines… I could not find an Italian coffee easily in Turkey. French wines are more prominent regarding wine. I think we may have a larger share in these areas.
USA that I have been in for 8 years is the largest market for Italian wines. 1 billion 200 million dollar wine is exported to America every year. The large hotel chains both in Italy and USA enable this huge development. We have enabled this with our activities that we carried out for them. There are large hotel chains and a serious tourism potential in Turkey, especially in Istanbul, Ankara and Antalya. These show we can develop our commercial relations with Turkey. We can develop this supporting the activities such as collaboration days, negotiations, visits.
As ı mentioned before, I have been in Turkey for a month and the first thing I did was to bring Turkish companies to Gustus Exhibition. Similarly, I will take the companies to two more exhibitions in Milano in May and in Parma in April. In addition, we will invite the exhibitor companies in these exhibitions to the fairs and events in Turkey. Besides, we may focus on developing relations with the end user through cuisine schools and their students, chefs, etc…. If we can create such a synergy both the relations and trade would be stronger.
You mentioned final products more. What about technology?
Yes, we have talked about final products so far. But we cannot keep technology out of the picture, of course. As you know, there are technology products in Italy too. For instance, pasta production technologies… I know that Turkey has high technology in pasta production. But we the Italians are always trying to reach an upper level. Pasta technologies producers are also above the level and seeking to develop new technologies. We would like to work with these companies too. I would like to encourage them to attend exhibitions organized in Turkey, like IDMA. We should already start working together with Parantez Fair because the exhibition will be held in 2018 and it is impossible for the companies to be ready for such an exhibition in a few days. We will work on this and carry out the necessary researches. We would like to involve in this exhibition as a special Italian pavilion. When the Italian companies approve their attendance we may receive financial support from government. This will reduce the attendance costs and encourage them to attend. In addition, we can guide them to realize their works with customs easily and trouble-free.