Africa and EU Agri Business Reps at Expo Milano

18-19 September 2015. Milan, Italy. The 5th EU-Third Countries Event, dedicated to Sub Saharan Africa. EU-Third Countries Events are organized in collaboration with Promos, Special Agency of the Milan Chamber of Commerce, EUROCHAMBRES and the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN), the network created by the European Commission to support SMEs.

Events include free-of-charge Business-to-Business meetings among European companies and those from targeted Third Countries and Regions. Companies operating in specific sectors related to Expo themes were invited to participate: agro-food industry (food production, machineries, packaging, logistics, technologies, quality control), renewable energies, biotechnologies, and resources management.

PARTICIPANTS: see also the overview of the 326 participants 

• Clusters
• Research Centers
• BSOs and Institutions

INVOLVED AFRICAN COUNTRIES

• Central Africa: Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Republic of Congo 
• East Africa: Burundi, Comoros, Djibuti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda
• West Africa: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo
• Southern Africa: Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Sao Tome and Principe, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe

SECTORS OF THE B2B MEETINGS (some 484 meetings)

• Agro-food manufacturing, food security, safety and quality control, food traceability, food conservation and shelf life
• Health biotechnology
• Water technologies, space application to agriculture, environmental management
• Energy production, renewable energies
• Other topics relevant to the thematic focus of the brokerage event

Extract of the program:

Improving the Business Climate
Chair: Roberto Ridolfi, Director for Sustainable Growth and Development, Directorate General for International Cooperation and Development, European Commission

• The International Dimension of the Agri-business: John Clarke, Director for International bilateral relations, Directorate General for Agriculture and Rural Development, European Commission
• African Regional Markets: an Opportunity for European Companies: Francisco Mantero, President of the Board of the Portuguese Association for Economic Development and Cooperation (ELO)
• Promoting Sustainable Business Partnership between EU and Africa: Serguei Ouattara, President & Executive Manager, EU-Africa Chamber of Commerce / Salimo Abdula, President of the Business Confederation of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (CE-CPLP) / Francisco Viana, President of the Business Confederation Europe - Africa (COFEA)