Last March, Simest – a company of the Cassa Depositi e Prestiti Group 76% controlled by SACE – met many Italian companies operating in Moldova at the VII Economic Forum of Italian and Italo-Moldovan Companies in Moldova to discuss financial opportunities for the internationalization of companies in the former Soviet territory and transforming pandemic restrictions into opportunities to develop new support tools during the investment cycle.
The Forum, broadcast this year in hybrid form on various Italian and Moldovan communication platforms, was organized by the Embassy of Italy in Chisinau, in cooperation with the International Development Law Organization and with the local chambers of commerce, and focused on mainly on the consequences that the pandemic has brought on bilateral economic-trade relations between Italy and Moldova. Simest was represented by Dr. Francesco Tilli and Mr. Gabriella Severi, respectively Chief and Senior of the External Relations Office.
Simest, together with SACE and ICE, illustrated some of the tools offered to cope with the post Covid -19 period, including the “export.gov.it” platform, a new tool dedicated to Italian companies to navigate the export world and easier access to all support services for business internationalization, conceived on the initiative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. Among the various proposals, there was also the idea of organizing an in-depth webinar this May with a specific focus on Moldova.
Italy is in second place for foreign investments in Moldova: about 1400 companies with Italian capital are registered in the Eastern country and in 2018 these companies invested about 1.8 billion Lei. However, the COVID-19 pandemic had a negative impact on the flow of foreign direct investments in Moldova, significantly reducing them and downsizing the entire economy of the country.
