The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister, Antonio Tajani, announced the creation, from January 1, of a general directorate of “growth diplomacy” that will be responsible for encouraging companies that want to invest and export abroad. He did so at the State General of International Trade organized yesterday by Forza Italia in Turin. In front of managers and entrepreneurs from the energy, chemical, pharmaceutical, engineering, agri-food and fashion sectors, Tajani explained the government’s strategy to increase industrial competitiveness and Made in Italy. Starting with the numbers: exports are worth almost 40% of Italy’s GDP, currently our country exports goods worth 623.5 billion and the government’s goal is to reach 700 billion by 2027.
“I have decided to carry out a revolution in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. For the first time in Italian history, there will be a political head but also an economic head and it will be a point of reference for all Italian entrepreneurs working outside international borders,” explained the Minister of Foreign Affairs at a meeting in Turin. “I have given instructions to all Italian embassies in the world to transform into a large platform to encourage the presence of Italian business, so that no entrepreneur feels left out.” Before Christmas, all our ambassadors will meet in Rome for the 2026 agenda, “then we will take them to Milan to discuss economic issues and organize an ambassador-entrepreneur meeting in order to break down all telephone, email or secretarial barriers. And in this process all entrepreneurs will be assisted by Ice, Simest, Sace and the Chamber of Commerce”.
For Tajani, growth diplomacy aims to strengthen investment and exports in non-EU markets: “I will go to Saudi Arabia because with ICE we are holding a furniture exhibition in Riyadh in 2026. This is a way to export Made in Italy with a large commercial event accompanied by a business forum,” he explained. Meanwhile, for the US, what worries Tajani more than tariffs is the dollar-euro relationship. “America is increasingly devaluing the dollar” while the European Union “continues to have an overly strong euro, to the detriment of our exports.”
This was also conveyed by Deborah Bergamini, head of the Foreign Affairs Department of Forza Italia who organized yesterday’s discussion with the aim of making it an annual event: “The import duties imposed by the United States, which have caused great concern, have now proven not to be a danger but an opportunity. It is clear – explained Bergamini – that we must not claim victory. We will see the dynamics in the coming months. But international trade is a political priority and we must all work together to build a good circuit”.
Meanwhile, entrepreneurs are asking for better coordination between ministries, continued investment in the country’s image and training of young people ready to go abroad, but most importantly a reduction in bureaucracy at European level which currently hinders company growth. The common attraction is simplification and speed.
The Turin discussions ended yesterday with video messages from EPP leader, Manfred Weber, and Trade Commissioner, Maros Sefcovic. Both have revived the importance of Mercosur, especially for agricultural food.
Sefcovic also underlined that “in this international context, economic tools are increasingly used to achieve geopolitical goals, dependencies are exploited, unjustified tariffs are imposed and arbitrary trade defense investigations are initiated. So we must work to defend our common prosperity”. That is, to “develop new trade agreements, modernize existing ones, and this also includes our partnership with the United States.”
