ITALY-DUBAI: VISITING MINISTER LAUNCHES ASSISI ENDURANCE EVENT

AKI

Rome, 19 April (AKI) - Italy's undersecretary for international trade Mauro Agostini was visiting Dubai on Thursday for a meeting with the deputy economy minister Abdallah Saleh, and a president of the Chamber of Commerce Abdul Rahman Saif Al Ghurair. Agostini will take part in the presentation of the Assisi Endurance Lifestyle 2007, a high profile equestrian event to be held in the UNESCO heritage site Assisi in central Italy in June.

Among the activities scheduled as part of ‘Assisi Endurance Lifestyle 2007’ is the traditional Endurance competition - Bab Al Shams Endurance Cup 2007 - in which each rider (by invitation only) acts as the ambassador of his own country to Assisi. The 120 kilometre endurance race attracts some of the world's leading riders from 40 nations.

Assisi Endurance Lifestyle 2007 is not a purely sporting event, however, but boasts a rich four-day programme of other events related to the ties between Italy and Dubai, and the United Arab Emirates.

Italy's foreign trade minister Emma Bonino will host a convention "Voices of Arab Women" and there will be a related economic forum.

"This will bring together the best enterpreneurs and business figures of the two nations, with a specific session dedicated to business-to-business encounters" added Agostini.

In the past decade trade between Italy and the UAE has passed from 1.3 billion euros to 3.5 billion euros in 2006. The main Italian exports to the Emirates are gold, jewellery and machinery, while the main imports from there are base metals, oil products and electronic and radio devices.