○ Discusses the policy for SME development and job creation with Head of the Italian Ministry of Economic Development
○ Agrees to sign an agreement for friendly cooperation with Minister of Economic Development, Lazio
Region, Italy

Governor Nam Kyung-pil continued with his local diplomacy activities in Italy as part of his visit to Greece and Italy for the establishment of a social economic hub and the invigoration of his province’s marine industry.

At 12: 30 PM on March 4, Governor Nam Kyung-pil paid a visit to Mr. Stefano Firpo, Head of the Italian Ministry of Economic Development in charge of industrial policies and SME at his office in Rome, and discussed the policy for SME development and job creation for an hour.

In his pre-prepared presentation, Mr. Stefano Firpo stated that clusters are a feature of the Italian economy. He added, “Italy has 4 million SMEs with 10 or fewer employees and about 200,000 SMEs with more than 10 but fewer than 200 employees. Mini businesses form regional clusters to compete with each other and those in other regions. About 5 million employees work in a total of 198 clusters. They comprise a third of the country’s entire manufacturing industry and a quarter of its workforce.”

In response, Mr. Nam Kyung-pil said, “Clusters appear to be a very good strategy. I think that in Italy, clusters are a joint brand type of concept.” He also asked for the relevant materials about successful clusters for benchmarking.

Mr. Stefano Firpo said, “In Italy, there are a large number of mini-sized businesses serving as subcontractors for thousands of exporting business. In this respect, industrial clusters are very important. Integration, cooperation, and competition within clusters strengthen businesses’ competitiveness.”

In response to Governor Nam Kyung-pil’s question about how Italy can solve the problem of youth unemployment, Mr. Stefano Firpo said that one solution consists in providing support for startups. He added, “The provision of support for startups is one of our social policies. We are sticking to it, as we have discovered that it is the most effective policy.”

At 3:00 PM, Governor Nam Kyung-pil moved to the Lazio Region Office in Rome and discussed ways of fostering mutual collaboration with Guido Fabiani, Minister of Economic Development, in the Lazio Region for about an hour and a half.
In the Lazio Region, the second most populous among Italy’s twenty regions, the agricultural, handicrafts, petrochemical, engineering and car manufacturing sectors are all well developed.

Governor Nam Kyung-pil said, “Gyeonggi Province and the Lazio Region have much in common in terms of their status in the country’s economy and as leading regions in high-end industries like bio science, and their efforts to create jobs. It would be good idea for the two regions to collaborate with each other, as Lazio boasts a well-developed bio science sector and Gyeonggi Province has advantages in the sector of ICT (Information and Communications Technologies).”

Minister Guido Fabiani responded favorably to Mr. Nam Kyung-pil’s suggestion, saying, “I think that we can cooperate with each other in many other sectors like tourism and culture as well. We would also like to promote exchanges between businessmen and researchers.”

Gyeonggi-do and the Lazio region have agreed to sign an MOU for mutual friendly collaboration in the near future.