MSG076G/01E DEVELOPMENT-ITALY: Joint Ventures planned for Developing World

ROME, Dic 29 (IPS) - Small and medium-sized businesses will be encouraged to establish themselves in developing countries, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Martino said on Thursday.

The Italian Cooperation for Development (ICD) organisation created a working group to accelerate this process, and businesses will be offered low interest loans to set up shop in the developing world, according to ICD official Antonio Catalano.

"We want to foster the internationalisation of our small and medium-sized businesses," he said.

He explained that the bureaucracy involved will have to be simplified, and that the businesses will have to fulfill certain conditions before moving into the poorest countries.

These conditions will include following ICD's aim to encourage development by requiring local participation of at least 25 percent.

The agricultural and industrial sectors are the most likely to benefit, along with infrastructure, transport, telecommunications, energy and water concerns.

Other changes will loosen requirements, with the possibility of low interest loans offered to certain ICD prioritised countries.

These measures fit with the Italian business sector's desire to increase investments in Latin America, according to Alessandro Cocirio, director of the Italian Confederation of Small and Medium-sized Industry (Confapi), which has nearly a million members, with 30 percent of production aimed at the export market.

Foreign Minister Martino said that the new ICD policy will help guarantee stability and reinforce democracy.

This will occur as part of a "reactivation" of Italian aid to the developing world, aiming to fight poverty by supporting the economic reforms of recipient governments.

Martino said that this "reactivation" depends on a proposal currently in Parliament which is presently held up by a number of amendments.

The bill will establish new mechanisms for development aid and foreign debt conversion, encourage initiatives by the beneficiary nations, support the private sector and implement more transparent proceedures.

© Inter Press Service (2014) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service