Message of the Italian Trade Commissioner, Amedeo Scarpa.

The Italian Trade Commission (ITA) is the Italian Government's trade and investment promotion agency whose duty is to develop, facilitate and promote the economic and trade relations of Italy with other countries, with particular emphasis on the needs of small and medium-sized businesses. It gives me immense pleasure to address the readers of this special supplement on the occasion of the Italian National Day, to be celebrated on 2nd June 2023 in Islamabad and Karachi, respectively. Trade promotion is becoming increasingly complex and difficult in the era of globalization and pandemic, where every day brings new commodities and market forces into the global trading system. The Italian Trade Commission has always worked under the auspices of the Embassy and Consulate of Italy to enhance the existing trade relations between Italy and Pakistan through its office for Pakistan in Karachi. Italy stands among the top ten trading partners of Pakistan.

Italian industrialists have been enjoying good trade relations with their Pakistani counterparts for the past many decades. However, there are still large margins for further improving such trade by enhancing trade promotion activities to be realized in both countries. PAKISTAN's exports of goods and services to Italy witnessed an increase of 35.58% during the first three quarters of the fiscal year (2021-22) as compared to the exports of the corresponding period of last year. The overall exports to ITALY were at $758.795 million during July-March (2021-22) against exports of $559.664 million during July- March...