Page 17 - 2020 ICCO Canada Pentola d'Oro - Under the Stars

Corrado Paina: “In terms of your house? 100 Euros?” and then respond, “I’ll give you 50 in cash.” And the Italians
clients and colleagues, what should would sell it.
they do to fight Covid-19 in the sector So, in the end, we would find ourselves with no properties of our own, and
of investments?
everything would be transformed into those cities with huge hotels to exploit
Should they continue investing? tourism.
Should they risk their money? In Italy,
people are investing in bricks and Laws are important, and investments from outside Italy are important, but so are
mortar (buying properties). investments from Italians. In fact, this economist was saying that Italians are
among the people who save the most. The problem is that the majority of the
What are your plans in the future?” time they put their money into foreign banks.
Cristina Bowerman: “This morning I He was saying that issuing laws that will make palatable for outside of Italy and
was listening to an interview of an Italian investors to take money from those banks and put them on the Italian
economist who was stressing exactly market would be necessary to relaunch the Italian economy.
this, saying that one of the ways to CP: “Attracting investments is essential; it’s one of the most important elements
relaunch the Italian economy is to for economic recovery.
attract investments.
But if you don’t issue laws that allow What are you doing in that sense? Are you investing in the sector?”
you to be palatable to outside CB: “On February 1, I bought a house and a restaurant. Twenty-three days later
investments, you may still have foreign I found myself in lockdown.
investments, but not the ones you
want. You will have, for instance, the If you’re talking about investing in terms of improving a business, yes, I made
Chinese market that has rooted itself some investment, but very small, because, as I told you, I just bought the
in the economy by buying everything restaurant. We do whatever is necessary – the minimum investment to keep
that came on site. You have to make going.
things palatable for outside investors. Something that I started before Covid-19, but that is becoming concrete now, is
Second, you have to invest in the that I’m opening a Glass Hostaria in China, and I’m also creating a fresh pasta
relaunching of manufacturing in Italy. and sauces business in my name that will be launched on e-commerce in Turkey.
We are a country built on the tertiary In Xian, China, we’re set to open Glass Hostaria on November 27, although there
sector, which provides services, but is a lot of confusion now. Just this morning we received the VISAs, but there are
we don’t manufacture anymore. major examinations to be conducted, and China requires a total of 28 days of

We used to have FIAT, now it’s not quarantine before you can set foot there. But I’m very happy because this project
here anymore. We need to push on that I’ve been pursuing since last November is taking place.
that pedal. The economist was saying This gives hope. What I’m saying is that the fact that a country like China,
that if we don’t launch, or even Australia, Taiwan, or Canada, is going back to regular life, tells us that there’s
propose, any law that would make, light at the end of the tunnel.
say, billionaires from the U.S. invest in
Italy, they would never do it on their So we need to keep pursuing our plans and taking inspiration from those who
own. have correctly responded to Covid-19. And we know for certain
that China and Taiwan did that. We need to learn from them.
The only thing they would do is to
come here and ask, “How much is this

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