June 9, 2020. The Ambassador of Italy Armando Varricchio discussed with Kimberly Reed, Chairman of the EX-IM Bank proposals for operational collaboration in support of the Italian companies. The call is a direct follow-up to the actions envisaged by President Trump’s April 10 Memorandum for assistance to Italy, specifically tailored for support to the economic sectors most affected by the pandemic.
Chairman and President Reed underlined Ex-Im Bank availability to activate an operational collaboration with SACE (Servizi Assicurativi Credito all’Esportazione) through ad hoc credit lines, benefiting in particular Italian small and medium-sized enterprises active in the supply of goods and services to the USA. The Chairman also said that Ex-Im Bank would evaluate possible agreements with Italian banks. Ex-Im has launched the proposal for a facility to guarantee loans issued by Italian banks for the benefit of Italian companies which, due to their core business, import American products and services.
Ambassador Varricchio recalled the gradual reopening in safety of all production activities in Italy and the approval of the “Export Agreement” to support and strengthen Italy’s commercial operations on the main foreign markets, starting with the USA. The Ambassador underlined the extraordinary results achieved in 2019 with a bilateral exchange that has exceeded 100 billion dollars. He also stressed the desirability of strengthening bilateral collaboration in strategic sectors.
“The conversation with the Chairman of Ex-Im Bank and the willingness of the agency to activate an operational collaboration with Italy to support the recovery is a tangible demonstration of the strength of the relations between Italy and the USA in every field, starting from the economic one – underlined Ambassador Varricchio. American support goes hand in hand with an intense action by Italy’s Institutional Network (“Sistema Italia”) in the USA providing assistance to our companies. As confirmed by the success of the webinar of May 13 organized by the MFA and ICE with over 600 companies interested in the US market and reaffirmed with the meeting of “Sistema Italia” convened by the Embassy on June 2 – is ready to accompany and support our companies through integrated promotion actions adapted in an extremely flexible way to the changing needs “
