The conversation, moderated by Francine Lacqua, at Bloomberg in London
Angelino Alfano; Pier Carlo Padoan; Roberto Maroni and Giuseppe Sala together in London
A delegation of two government ministers and the heads of the Lombardy region and the municipality of Milan visited London today to take part in an event entitled “ITALY NOW AND NEXT – Milan at the heart of tomorrow’s Europe: attraction, expertise and investments”, held at the Bloomberg headquarters in the City.
Francine Lacqua, a journalist at Bloomberg, facilitated a conversation between Angelino Alfano, the Minister of foreign affairs; Pier Carlo Padoan, the Minister of economy and finance; Roberto Maroni, the President of the Lombardy region; and Giuseppe Sala, the Mayor of Milan, before an audience of investors and economic and financial operators. They discussed Milan’s role as a major European business destination and its attractiveness for direct foreign investment, in particular in view of the evolving European context.
Mr Alfano, together with Mr Maroni and Mr Sala, also met a small Group of British and international businesses that have investments in Italy and are interested in expanding their operations in the country. In parallel to these meetings, Mr Padoan held bilateral discussions with financial investors, heads of investment banks, and City operators, to explore the opportunities offered by financial investment in Italy and the advantages of by running some or all of their operations from Milan.
Following the meetings at the Bloomberg offices, Mr Alfano met his British counterpart, Boris Johnson, at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, to discuss recent foreign-policy developments and the launch of the Brexit process, which was set in motion the same day, when British prime minister Theresa May invoked Article 50.
As testimony to the close relations between Italy and the UK, Minister Alfano paid tribute to the victims of the terrorist attack at the Parliament building in Westminster on 22 March, leaving a garland of flowers at the site of the attack.
