Interview with Mrs Cinzia Bruno, Director of the Sofia Office of ICE - Italian Trade Agency on the occasion of ICE Pavilion at SEE Save the Planet 2017
1) Dear Ms Bruno, ICE Sofia will support the participation of Italian companies at the forthcoming 8th edition of the International Waste Management & Recycling Conference and Exhibition in Sofia, Bulgaria on 7-9 March 2017. Please tell us about the Agency and its main priorities in Bulgaria.
ICE is the Italian government agency for the promotion and internationalization of Italian enterprises abroad - Italian Trade Agency. It accompanies and assists Italian companies on their way of reaching foreign markets by providing real services through a network of 65 offices in 60 countries. ICE promotes the image of the Italian products all over the world and it is recently engaged in attracting foreign investment.
The agency is subject to the authority and is supervised by the Ministry of the Economic Development together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.
ICE office in Sofia has existed since 1967, so next year there will be elapsed 50 years of its activity in Bulgaria - a long and stable promotion activity of Made in Italy and cooperation with Bulgarian companies, economic organizations, associations. Every year we provide services to approximately 500 Italian companies, interested in Bulgarian market and to around 300 Bulgarian companies, participating in our initiatives.
In 2016 we organized 25 initiatives in Italy and Bulgaria in order to encourage the cooperation between the two countries. Bulgaria, with its geographical proximity and a production structure similar to the Italian one, is an easily accessible market, conforming to the particulars of the Italian SMEs – the numerous requests that we receive every day are a proof of this fact.
2. Please present in brief the Italian companies, participants at the Collective Italian Stand, organized by ICE - Italian Trade Agency in SEE Save the Planet’17. Please indicate some of their products and innovations.
We participate for the first time at the exhibition 'Save the Planet' with a collective stand Italy. We have organized six Italian companies that I will present briefly herewith. I invite the Bulgarian companies and entrepreneurs from the branch to visit us and meet on-site with the companies’ managers or sales directors, who will arrive from Italy. I'm sure that these first direct contacts will lead to further sustained cooperation.
Please find herewith the information about the Italian participants:
Ladurner Ambiente is a leading company in waste treatment, particularly in the production of energy from waste, production of solid regenerative fuels (SRF), mechanical and biological treatment, composting and anaerobic digestion. Ladurner is active in the design and implementation of plants for sorting / processing of waste.
Hydro Italia is a company active in the field of treatment of sludge, builds plants for anaerobic digestion of waste from the agro industry, including the organic fraction of municipal solid waste for electricity / heat or biomethane.
Idro Group (Idrodepurazione) specializes in anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge, organic fraction of household waste and in agro-industry (electricity production, biomethane, compost). The Group works in the field of purification of drinking water and wastewater. It builds high-tech greenhouses.
Apiesse - The main activity of this company is to produce and market agricultural machinery for silage in bags.
The bags silage is to fill a bag or sack of polyethylene and used as a container for storage of silage anaerobic agricultural, or other organic wet, damp-products of the food industry in order for their conservation. APIESSE has also created a line of machines for composting tubular bags or vessels ventilated.
Ecoimpianti - It offers a wide range of services and activities related to environmental protection and resource efficiency, waste disposal and protection of land and soil, active in the field of renewable energy - photovoltaic energy, energy from biogas both landfill and gas from anaerobic processes. Designs, builds and operates facilities for waste treatment.
CAF is developed a project for the treatment of discarded tires by pyrolysis with microwave technology.
3. What are the opportunities of joint projects between Bulgarian and Italian companies under the OP "Environment" and OP "Innovation and competitiveness"? On what Bulgaria has to focused to attract more successfully Italian investments in ecology and waste management?
There are plenty of opportunities for realization of joint projects and the beginning could be launched at the exhibition Save the Planet. Environmental protection is of great importance for Italy and Bulgaria. Operational programs of your country, not only "Environment" and "Innovation and Competitiveness" but also Programme for Rural Development clearly define priority themes for Bulgaria.
Partnership between Bulgarian and Italian companies will definitely supports the transformation of our economy into a green and sustainable economy. In Italy recycling is becoming the major activity for the realization of the idea of circular economy: annually over 15 million tons of waste paper, glass, plastic, wood, organic materials are converted into 10.6 million tons of raw materials for reuse. In addition to this, Italian companies have experience in the utilization of renewable biological resources in agriculture and treatment of organic fraction of municipal waste. Italy becomes the leading country in the use of biogas, a sector in which over the past six years 1300 installations were built.
I think that Bulgaria has taken in the right direction, in view of the measures provided in the OP Environment and the funds directed to the municipalities for the construction of installations for pre-treatment of waste and composting installations.
