Marseille, the centre for Euro Mediterranean business meetings

by Jacques R. LORNE

This year, a very large event will take place in Marseille, organised by the Italian Chambre of Commerce. It will be
headed by Chambre President Franco Bottiglioni, who will work with his team towards its success, and much more. Let's take advantage of the occasion to introduce you to him …

University of Bologna graduate in nuclear engineering, Franco Bottiglioni first worked at his profession within the European Community as a scientific civil servant. He was then sent to the Atomic Energy Commission, then to Cadarache when there was a regrouping of all the fusion activities at the site. A very big machine was to be developed there which began as a European project to become today an international affair now known as the ITER Project.

Bottiglioni's arrival to the office of president of the Italian Chambre of Commerce happened, as with most things in life, in a simple and non-premeditated way. In 1999 he met someone at an Italian Consulate event who suggested that he should run in the elections about to take place for renewal of the administration council, in order to bring a scientific component to the Chambre that had been lacking, especially in terms of technology. Bottiglioni was thus elected to the administration council, whose President that year was Luc Corso.

In October of that year the new council produced their first event, christened the "Technology Transfer Show," whose general idea was to stress the significance of the Mediterranean region for those who live there, all taking into account that technological know-how is higher on the northern side than the southern, eastern or western sides. In this framework it would be potentially more interesting to pay attention to the small and medium-sized businesses that need to acquire knowledge in the usage of these technologies, as compared with the other companies who need to yield this technology and become more conventional in order to be able to continue making progress.

The first year, the result of these North-South encounters was the testimony of people who had attempted this kind of transfer, directly or via groups assisting in the process. Little by little, Luc Corso refined the concept, up until the moment when he managed - about three or four years later - to generate real business-to-business meetings. When Franco Bottiglioni became Chambre President in 2005, these business meetings had well won their reputation for success, deemed a crowning achievement at last October's Transfer Show in Izmir, Turkey.

From this business-focused approach arose the notion of Sustainable Development, because, as Bottiglioni explains, "It is one of the biggest dilemmas that human activity faces today : how to continue creating wealth, dispensed from well-being and resources, and at the same time avoid manufacturing products that, after a cycle of use or transformation, may be harmful in our working context. The moment must arrive when, if we make ten products that last ten years, each year we must be able to recycle one of them without leaving an impact on the environment. It is from this moment on that we could continue to have economically viable activities that respond to the needs of the public and consumers."

In fact it was last year at the Izmir show, centered on the themes of fish farming and aquaculture that this new concept was presented. This revealed that this vision was present in all kinds of activities. All the fish farming and aquaculture participants seemed to share the intention of not harming the marine environment in which they operated. In order to prepare for this year's show, which shall take place in Marseille this coming October 9th and 10th, Franco Bottiglioni and Marie Bottai, the Italian Chambre's General Secretary, let themselves be inspired by an idea explained by the President, "Quite simply, by looking around us in our own countries, and including every person who knows the Mediterranean as well, it's easy to see that a significant issue, in terms of Sustainable Development, is the recycling of waste. This is currently a problem everywhere. The recycling of waste is ultimately connected to many industrial activities, whether major or minor. Ecology in general, has become a source of non-negligable profit as long as we work correctly. That's why we came up with the title theme 'Risk-management and regional vulnerabilities in the scope of Sustainable Development', which in fact has become the idea for one of the competitivity centres slated for the Provence-Alps-Cote d'Azur Region.

"In order to succeed in this operation, we have teamed up with the Marseille Chambre of Commerce and Industry, who are giving us plenty of support, as well as the Naples Chambre of Commerce. Naples is a city that is starting to have a lot of contact with Marseille, namely in terms of a partnership accord between the PACA Region and the Campania Region in Italy. Their main focus is sea contacts. This is the policy direction that the local regional institutions of PACA and those of Campania had all longed for. We are made up of three organisers, with coordinators and groups who help us in company research. We help all the networks of the Italian Chambres of Commerce of the Mediterranean to get working. We also have the 'Relay Centre Innovations Network', piloted by the European Community, whose knowledge of the regions is so strong, they have a list of corporate contacts throughout all the sectors. This really helps us. There is also the Organisation of the United Nations, who works rather like the Relay Centre but on a worldwide level, and that should help attract interested companies to our meetings. There are also the Mediterranean Engineering Schools who help us evaluate the projects presented, for the B-to-B meetings are surrounded by a series of conferences and brief presentations of between a half hour and three quarters of an hour. They are given by experts who clarify the situation on a European level, a worldwide level, but most specifically on a Mediterranean level. Those who participate are not only there for business contacts, even though it is an essential component of the event. All this allows for a global vision of issues and it opens a view towards the future. We have also received aid from the Plateau de l'Arbois Local Risk-Management Centre, one of the co-organisers, who are represented by Pierre Chovelon, a coordinator for the theme. We can also expect Martine Didier from the Ea Environmental Association, Nicolas Cheane from the IEC, Mr. Plana of ONUDI, Philippe Zanin of the Marseille Provence Chambre of Commerce, Zile Souhali from the Mediterranean Engineer Network, and finally Jean Vergnes, water consultant for UNESCO and MAE. He is also a Risk Specialist who will organise the experts and lead them in the formation of their main idea outline. More than twelve nations will be represented there. The Naples Chambre of Commerce will be represented by their training and innovation group, called Cervitech."

After this very detailed presentation of the upcoming Euro Mediterranean Business Contact event, Franco Bottiglioni starts to wrap up his ideas. "There you have it. We are in the process of working towards this event, due to take place in Marseille on October 9-10, 2006, in the Marseille Chambre of Commerce's main building. We'll use the accompanying Hotel Mercure's conference rooms, which will be easily accessible, as everyone will be staying right there in that same hotel. Everything is on the spot, which should facilitate contact and work for optimal efficiency."

Creating overtures between Naples, the Italian provinces and Marseille

This big event planned isn't the only project undertaken by the Italian Chambre of Commerce and its small, but efficient team. They spend all year developing collaborations between our region and different provinces of Italy. These efforts are currently focused on Naples and Campania. For this reason, the Mediterranean Engineering School's network was recently introduced to the various schools of engineering in Naples. The two entities solidified their meeting by signing an agreement that will allow the Naples engineering schools to integrate themselves into a more consolidated relational and professional network with which the possibilities for exchanges, or even for partnerships, will be more fruitful.

As for the abundant commercial and industrial exchanges shared by our region (Marseille, in particular) and Italy, with a historic neighbour such as Italy, naturally they should be a source of such good relations. And everyone involved seems to agree, it's downright logical. After all, with 3 billion euro, Italy is our top trade partner, top client and top supplier. Sure, the scales tip slightly in favour of France due to a loss in competitivity for Italy, but this can be compared with a rather positively balanced past in terms of trade between the two nations. In any case, Franco-italian trade has progressed by about 15% over the last three years. This confirms that activity indeed exists and is very present. But as Franco Bottiglioni put it, "This activity is accomplished without the need of all the official institutions. For example : the PACA Region is trying to sign a partnership accord with Campania… It's true that they are a little far away, but despite that, there is a certain difficulty in activating it, once the protocols have all been signed, in order for real activity to commence. This difficulty originates from several things, but the first, most important thing is that the people in charge of following the agreements are often handicapped at meetings because they do not speak the language of the country. This certainly does not facilitate debates. It seems evident that once the agreement is signed, it should live through those participating in it, who meet, debate, organise, etc… As for us, we can participate in a range of events via our small structure, but for things to succeed we must be present in numbers, with the same goals and skills. That is the key to success. We also have an event planned for this October in Liguria, called 'Hello Provence', with support from the Bouches-du-Rhône County Council, who is also our partner at the Marseilles Fair."

It is becoming reality more and more with each day, this work developed by the Italian Chambre of Commerce and their determined commitment seen in this materialization of relations between the Italian Provinces and our region, even if the relations are more tangible on local Italian lands. But this action lets artisans and small businesses introduce themselves to the markets, via fairs, shows, and expos organised by the Chambre for demonstrating the excellence of Italian production in agribusiness or otherwise. That being said, it's important to say that it doesn't stop there. The Italians redirect this action conversely towards our region, letting our businesses be heard, as they are quite willing to open relations with Italy, too, and in the framework of bilateral action. Admittedly, the agenda of Marie Bottai's small team is relatively booked up. Good news for Franco Bottiglioni that he can rely on such a team.