Campania: a plan to attract foreign investment

The pact, the first in a region of southern Italy, charts a largely unprecedented course in the relationship between multinationals and the territory in which they operate. No longer separated at home, to begin with, with the multinationals no longer considered as foreign companies ‘but as Italian companies with foreign capital,’ explains Gianluigi Traettino, president of Campania’s entrepreneurs, who had been working on the Protocol for three years and who yesterday reaped the fruits of this commitment, solemnised by a prestigious location and a high-profile audience (signing the document with him were the president of the Region, Vincenzo De Luca, and the vice-president of Confindustria, Barbara Beltrame Giacomello).

Novartis CEO Pasquale Frega announced his intention to build a research centre for RNA in Campania in the wake of the technology park already planned in Torre Annunziata, which will increase employment and investment. But the other multinationals invited also show that they have plans and ideas for their future in the area: Philip Morris (with CEO Marco Hannappel) talks of increasingly close relations with the Federico II to improve ‘a chain that is already producing development’; Ericsson (with CEO Emanuele Iannetti) recalls that the Group’s first research and development centre in Italy was set up here; and Nestlé (with CEO Mac Travaglia) reiterates that the investments made in the area will continue. Above all, however, a request for a ‘vision’ for the territory emerges from the foreign-capitalised companies, enabling them to look at the prospects for the next five to ten years. An initial response comes from the regional councillor for Productive Activities and Employment Antonio Marchiello: ‘We are already working on the new development plan for Campania,’ he announces, in which the SEZs will play a key role, as government commissioner Giosy Romano reiterates. Here too, there is no shortage of novelties, such as the use of the digital platform of the Chamber of Commerce system for the digital umic counter, a decisive step in speeding up the settlement procedures for companies. But there is also the imminent publication of the first calls for tenders for infrastructural works (in the areas adjacent to the Interporto di Nola and the port of Salerno), which will begin by July, a year and a half ahead of the time indicated by CIPESS. However, running is not always possible when there is, for a change, bureaucracy: it seems absurd, but no one has set a deadline by which the Inland Revenue must communicate whether or not it accepts applications for access to tax credits for the ZES.

SOURCE IL MATTINO