Italy’s Ambassador to Qatar Alessandro Prunas
Italy, which recently announced its €248bn pandemic recovery plan, offers foreign investors including those from Qatar, with a wide range of opportunities in an improved foreign investment climate, Italy’s Ambassador to Qatar H E Alessandro Prunas (pictured) has said yesterday. Prunas was speaking at the ‘Doing Business in Italy’ webinar which was jointly hosted by McNair Chambers and the Italian Embassy in Doha.
Citing the latest available data, Prunas said that Qatari investments in Italy are currently valued at €6bn. “Italy is one of the main manufacturing countries in the world, and among the top 20 countries in the world for partner for foreign capital stocks. There’s a wide range of opportunities for foreign investors. Venture capital also provides profitable opportunities,” Prunas said.
He also highlighted that Italy ranked first in Europe for the number of startups, scaleups, and innovative companies with the highest profit in terms of turnover according to the Financial Times 1000 Europe’s Fastest Growing Companies 2021 Index.
“The post-pandemic recovery offers Italy a unique opportunity to further improve foreign investment climate, and we shape long-term and deep rooted reforms in addition to short-term economic stimulus. With a view to attracting capital and foreign investments, priority will be given to high quality and high value foreign investments. Italy is a natural rich for economic and commercial flows linking Europe to Africa, and the Middle East. A specific bill is under preparation which will certainly produce positive effects for foreign investors. Simplification of bureaucracy in matters of permits, authorisation and public procurements is also a key area of reform that will maximise impact on investors,” Prunas added.
He went on to reiterate that the Italian Embassy as well as the Italian Trade Agency with its FDI desk in Doha are the very first points of entry for those seeking to invest in Italy.
The hour-long virtual session was moderated by Professor Khawar Qureshi QC, Head of McNair Chambers Qatar. Other speakers during the event also included Stefano Nigro, Foreign Direct Investment Department Director at the Italian Trade Agency who spoke about investment opportunities in Italy; Francesca Ricci, Partner at Ughi e Nunziante law firm who highlighted the real estate investment opportunities in Italy, and Giuseppe Barreca, Partner at Barreca & Partners law firm who discussed the labour law and taxation for foreign investors in Italy.
