May 7 – Innovation, technology, research, and agribusiness are the sectors that will further link Friuli Venezia Giulia and Bavaria. The two regions intend to enter into a memorandum of understanding that will formalize their cooperation in economic relations, transport, research and culture, and that will have as its centerpiece the increase in the use of the Port of Trieste. The announcement was made yesterday in Munich, where Debora Serracchiani, President of Friuli Venezia Giulia, met with Horst Lorenz Seehofer. The meeting was held at the Bavarian State Chancellery, where for the first time a President of an Italian Region met with the Bavarian President. The next step in the program will be to initiate a bilateral confrontation with the organization of a “forum” for experts of the two administrations. The signing of the agreement is expected by the end of the year, in Trieste. Cooperation shall thus strengthen the role of the Port of Trieste, which ” is closer than Hamburg for Bavaria,” said Seehofer, and that of intermodal connections with the Bavarian capital. Parallel relations, which both presidents described as “of great interest”, could be developed in the areas of technological innovation and in the agribusiness sector. Given the presence in both regions of many qualified research centers and scientific institutions, technological innovation, aimed at economic growth, can easily become one of the pillars on which the two may implement the cooperation agreement. “We look with great interest – said Serracchiani – to Bavaria’s innovation clusters, to the German model of education and vocational training, closely linked to production companies. In Italy, we are the leading region in the field of research and development for the food industry within Expo 2015”, explained the President placing further emphasis on the already established collaboration between the two regions in the dairy sector. (PO / red)
