Meet in Africa - Damned if you do, damned if don’t
The large Italian presence at the recent "Meet in Africa" event in Tunis raised a few eyebrows. In fact, some showed a certain disquiet that there were no less than four presentations given by experts from Assomac, the Italian association for footwear, leather goods and tanning machinery manufacturers, during the first three days of the event which were devoted to seminars.
"I think it would be wrong to see our presence as an Italian lobby," states ario Pucci, Assomac’s international relations manager. "Our association has actively supported the Meet in Africa project since it was launched and it is no coincidence that, as a result of this commitment, we have been invited to be observer members by the AFLAI Directive Committee. And with regards to the presentations, given the interest that they generated, I would say that our presence gave an ‘added value’ to the conference, with concrete professional suggestions and ideas from people who are in constant contact with the market and its development."
Detractors cannot have it both ways. Italy cannot merely be courted in order to ensure the success of various fairs around the world. Once again, at Meet in Africa, the official Italian pavilion was larger than that of other countries. "When it’s all about filling space and pleasing trade fair organisers, the Italians are okay; however, when others notice that they successfully occupy key positions, which have not been filled by experts from other countries, suddenly people start to talk about a lobby," Mr Pucci claims.
There is some validity to this argument, as Italy is the only industrialised country to have maintained, albeit with a little difficulty in recent times, a strong presence throughout the entire leather/footwear industrial network: hides, machines, shoes, accessories, components and leather goods articles. In 2001, these sectors in Italy achieved a turnover of Euros 21,000 million, of which Euros 15,000 million were exported. In order to remain competitive in international markets, many Italian businesses, including those in the footwear sector, have transferred part of their production to North African countries and to Tunisia in particular, favoured for its geographical proximity: it takes the same time to fly to Tunis from Rome as it does to fly to Milan. And the fact that, in Tunis, it is possible to receive Italian television channels without a satellite dish, many people understand and speak Italian, which helps facilitate relations between companies undertaking joint ventures.
Last year, for example, the export of Italian machines for producing traditional leather footwear showed a surprising increase, reaching Euros 11.5 million, up 182% compared with 2000. Most of that export, as happened in the past from Taiwan to China, was for footwear production lines that were transferred from premises in Italy to Tunisia. Italy is also offering substantial assistance at a governmental level, by means of bilateral Italo-Tunisian co-operation, for the development of the local leather and footwear sectors. In recent years, funds from the Italian Government alone have financed an assistance project for CNCC, the Tunisian National Centre of Leather & Footwear, whilst Italian experts are also currently involved in upgrading programmes in Tunisian enterprises.
Italian involvement in the Meet in Africa programme for 2004, scheduled to take place in Addis Ababa, would also seem assured. In Ethiopia, thanks to an Italian government co-operation initiative, the new technology assistance centre for the leather and footwear industries has been entirely equipped with Italian machinery.
