TOMSK, Apr 20 – RIA Tomsk. Italy and Russia, in particular the Tomsk region, plan to cooperate in the development of nano-, biotechnology and IT-industry, it is possible that the result will be joint industrial developments and enterprises, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Italian Republic to the Russian Federation Pasquale Terracciano said in Tomsk.
On Tuesday, the Italian Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Russia arrived in the Tomsk region. At a meeting in the regional administration, where, in addition to the regional leadership, representatives of Italian business who had arrived with the ambassador were also present, projects and experience of international cooperation were discussed.
"Two aspects I would like to focus on: the sectors of nanotechnology, biotechnology and IT industry are of particular importance. These are the industries that Italy is following with particular interest. <...> We hope that there will be an opportunity to develop these particular industries in cooperation between the Russian Federation and Italy and, in particular, between the Tomsk region and Italy", the ambassador said.
He noted that the Tomsk region is one of the most rapidly developing in the Russian Federation. According to him, the region has enormous potential from an entrepreneurial and industrial point of view, which may be of great interest to Italian enterprises. Considering that a large number of universities are concentrated in Tomsk, "this is an ideal ground for the development of new enterprises."
“I am always pleased to remind you that in addition to the development of the “made in Italy” trend, which is very much appreciated by Russian consumers, we offer “made with Italy”, made in cooperation with your and our companies,” Terracciano specified.
In turn, Deputy Governor for Economy Andrey Antonov said that the Tomsk region cooperates with various European countries, including Italy, many companies have partners in this country and are interested in further development of cooperation. Another point of contact is education: all Tomsk universities have partners in Italy, and some of them are actively implementing academic mobility programs in this country.
"As for the innovation center, what you named - the Internet of Things, 5G, biotechnology - this is part of the specializations of our universities and the specializations of our industrial enterprises. It is difficult to compete without interaction between industry and universities. There are many directions, today or tomorrow we will discuss the details and we will outline detailed steps <...> We hope that in the next two years we will have concrete examples of interaction," Antonov said.