(Jul. 19) – Success for the mission of the Italian delegation in China, Japan and South Korea for the promotion of Expo 2015. The Voyage of the Sole Commissioner for the event, Giuseppe Sala, and the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, Marta Dassù, had several goals, which flowed into strengthening the presence of the first, second and fourth largest economy in Asia at the exhibition to be held in Milan. China has already signed the contract for participation in the event, but the Italian delegation wanted to continue the essential promotion to attract investors: from Chinese institutions and private companies are expected revenues for more than 60 million euros. That figure is reflected in an increase of the requests for VISAs to Italy from China. Compared to 2012, when the requests were 285,000, they increased by 20% in the first half of this year, and the tourist flow is expected to double by 2015, hence the commitment of the Ministry to strengthen the organic consular network for a faster delivery of documents. It has been also inaugurated the fixed antenna of the Italian Embassy, that will help to manage the Chinese roadmap, with the aim to promote Chinese tourism in Italy. The visit to China was also the occasion for the announcement of a partnership with Samsung. The Korean tech giant will produce a mobile phone for the Expo and will provide special screens for the stands and for the organization. The visits to Japan and South Korea gave the chance to sign contracts of participation for the two countries in the event. The signatures, which took place at the Italian embassies in the two countries, have made official the already announced partecipations. Regarding to that, Deputy Minister Dassù said that “with the signing of the contract of participation we intend to lay the foundations of a path that goes well beyond the preparation of a national pavilion; the Expo has all the potential to be a driving force of economic relations and Social contacts between our two countries.” (Peg)
