Rome: Italian Exhibition Group Spa (IEG), the company generated by a merger between Rimini Fiera and Fiera di Vicenza, and Arezzo Fiere e Congressi Srl have signed a strategic agreement creating a single organization for shows involving the gold and jewellery industry.
Following the agreement with Arezzo Fiere e Congressi, Italian Exhibition Group, besides organizing the three editions of VICENZAORO (the January and September events in Vicenza and the November edition in Dubai), will now also be managing the organization of OROAREZZO and Gold Italy starting from the coming May and October 2017 editions in Arezzo.
The agreement generates a trade show platform that represents the entire Italian gold and jewellery industry with the aim of developing and internationally promoting one of Made in Italy’s top quality sectors. The agreement is a continuation of a deal that Fiera di Vicenza and Arezzo Fiere e Congressi had already agreed upon in 2016, which led to coordinating the Italian gold and jewellery trade show calendar with the separate and autonomous management of the respective shows.
The transaction between IEG and the Arezzo company, an example of a nationwide unitary supply chain trade show project, is supported by the Ministry of Economic Development as part of its programme for promoting the main Made in Italy production chains and strengthening the best shows from an international viewpoint.
A single Organization for one entire sector of Made in Italy: Italian Exhibition Group is the leading player.
Establishing one single Interlocutor for institutions, associations, companies and traders will lead to a more effective development of a national and international promotion and communication strategy for the entire Italian gold and jewellery sector, directing and using resources and investments to the best possible advantage.
Italian Exhibition Group will continue to characterize and promote individual shows and their links with the territory, albeit with a considerable view to systematization. The aim is to strengthen and boost the industry by increasing business opportunities for exhibitors, stimulating the domestic market and favouring the presence of international buyers in order to help companies gain access to strategic jewellery markets, also with the support of the Italian Ministry of Economic Development and ICE (Agency for promoting Italian companies abroad and internationalization).
The agreement was announced February 9, 2017, at a press conference in Rome in the presence of the Hon. Ivan Scalfarotto, Undersecretary for the Ministry of Economic Development; Stefano Ciuoffo, Tuscany Region Councillor for production, credit, tourism and commerce; IEG top management, including President Lorenzo Cagnoni, Executive Vice President Matteo Marzotto and Managing Director Corrado Facco; and the President of Arezzo Fiere e Congressi, Andrea Boldi.
Made in Italy jewellery plays a leading role in the high range fashion industry which, together with interior design, agriculture and food, technology and tourism, represents one of the most competitive sectors in the Italian economy.
Italian Exhibition Group’s unitary management – with one single organization – of events specifically dedicated to the world of gold, together with its international value, is therefore a new driving force for coordinated growth in terms of global competition.
The Italian gold and jewellery industry is a European leader due to the quality of its production, design and technological innovation, projected towards the new frontier based on industry 4.0. It includes about 10,000 companies employing 40,000 workers. In 2015 it generated a turnover in excess of 7 billion euros, exports of 6.5 billion euros and a 4.2 billion euro positive trade balance. Despite the negative climate in global demand for gold for jewellery demand, in the first 10 months of 2016, Italian exports reached 4.8 billion euros.
Yesterday’s agreement foresees that Italian Exhibition Group shall manage the organization of the Arezzo gold and jewellery trade shows already in 2017. Arezzo Fiere e Congressi will be able to become a corporate member of Italian Exhibition Group, receiving shares to a value to be defined on mutual agreement as pecuniary consideration for transferring the brands.
Ivan Scalfarotto, Undersecretary for the Ministry of Economic Development, said, This agreement is a decisive step for the development of a segment that is worth over six billion in exports. Know-how and organizational abilities are thus being united in order to compete in an increasingly more complex market, where company dimensions and project aims and ambitions make the difference. As the Ministry and ICE, we are keeping a watchful eye on this kind of operation and we will continue to support promotional activities, in this industry as well as others, that are able to group the entire supply chain. We allocated almost nine million Euros to the gold and jewellery industry last year, providing support to our companies’ participation at foreign trade shows and strengthening the biggest events in Italy. For 2017, we will be firmly continuing our efforts. After the plan aimed at the U.S. market, which began in 2016, we will be placing particular focus on Asia and the Middle East.”
Enrico Rossi, President of the Tuscany Region, pointed out, “In my opinion, the agreement we have managed to come to is a good solution, and opens the way for Arezzo Fiere to become a corporate member of Italy’s largest player in the congress sector. Signing the protocol not only guarantees a future for the city of Arezzo and its gold district , but I would also say for Tuscany. It also allows Arezzo gold to play – and deservedly so – a leading role within the trade shows organized in Italy. Trade shows that are too fragmented and scattered do not survive. This is why we have embarked on the road to synergy rather than localism. We are also comforted by the Government’s action which is working in this direction.
As far as Tuscany goes, we have come out of this important decision positively and I would particularly like to thank the Arezzo Chamber of Commerce and the Arezzo Fiere management for creating the conditions to make this strategic decision become a concrete fact.”
Lorenzo Cagnoni, President of Italian Exhibition Group, affirmed, “We are extremely satisfied about signing this agreement, the result of transparent and constructive talks with Arezzo Fiere e Congressi, to whom I extend my thanks. I would also like to thank the Ministry of Economic Development for its support in the transaction. The agreement is important not only because it creates one single organization for Italian gold and jewellery shows with a view towards industrial systematization, but also because it strengthens Italian Exhibition Group’s mission, that is, to act as a platform for other organizations and to thus contribute to developing and boosting the Italian trade show system.”
Matteo Marzotto, Executive Vice President of Italian Exhibition Group, declared, “Step by step, proposing and sharing the vision with President Andrea Boldi and his stakeholders, we have managed to find the right balance, accompanied by the important support from the Ministry of Economic Development and the other institutions involved. We are proud to have embarked on this path two years ago and to witness a result today which we firmly believe will prove to be of extraordinary importance for the Italian gold and jewellery industry, one of the most strategic and high profile Made in Italy segments on a worldwide scale. IEG has taken Fiera di Vicenza’s inheritance aboard, finalizing it with the same sensitivity of dialogue and system vision, overcoming all perplexities thanks to the collaborative availability of all players involved. We are certain that a unitary trade show system will give Italian jewellery more efficiency and effectiveness at the service of our supply chains on the global markets and, at the same time, constitute an attractive marketplace for the best international companies.”
Corrado Facco, Managing Director of Italian Exhbition Group stressed, “The strategic agreement with Arezzo Fiere e Congressi spotlights Italian Exhibition Group’s competence as a central, cutting-edge trade show player for the jewellery sector on a global scale. The Italian segment is Europe’s most important, and certainly most qualified, production district in terms of design and technological innovation. Italian Exhibition Group will be managing an overall of four events in Italy, one in Dubai, an official presence in the United States and a series of other strategic operations in Asia. Therefore, IEG’s role as a content provider takes on even greater value, thus consolidating its international leadership in the marketing, communication and production of events linked to business for high range luxury goods.”
Andrea Boldi, President of Arezzo Fiere e Congressi, said, “Today’s agreement overcomes local pride and provides new prospects for re-launching Made in Italy jewellery exports. I would like to express my thanks to the institutions, the Tuscan Regional Authority and IEG management, but, first and foremost, to Italian gold and jewellery companies, which will be the driving force behind this project.”
Therefore, 2017 will see Italian Exhibition Group managing the organization of five Shows: VICENZAORO January (which took place January 20-25), OROAREZZO (May 6-9), VICENZAORO September (September 23-27), Gold Italy (October 21-23), VOD – The Dubai International Jewellery Show (November 15-18).
Moreover, the VICENZAORO brand will also be attending the gold and jewellery industry’s top international trade shows: the Hong Kong International Jewellery Show, the India International Jewellery Show in Mumbai and JCK in Las Vegas, where IEG has been managing the official Italian hall for 11 years.
Overall, the five shows will host about 5,000 exhibitors from all the Italian gold districts and over 30 different countries, and more than 80,000 trade visitors, 50% of whom come from 130 different nations.
