ITALIAN AGRI-FOOD EXPORTS TO THE UAE GREW BY 46% REACHING A RECORD VALUE

The Italy Pavilion and the Italian Food Lab at Gulfood 2023 were inaugurated by Matteo Zoppas, President of the Italian Trade Agency, together with H.E. Francesco Lollobrigida, Italian Minister of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forests.

During the inauguration Matteo Zoppas said: “we are very proud that the export of Italian agri-food products to the UAE have reached double digit growth in 2022, with the larger increase among the whole products exported by Italy to the UAE: + 46%.

With the motto Sustainability is SustainabITALY, this year we are committed to boost even more “sustainable Italy-UAE partnerships” also in the food sector. This would represent also be one of our concrete contributions for the Agenda of next COP28 which will be host in the UAE later this year.”

As a matter of fact, organic agriculture plays a fundamental role in helping to preserve soil fertility and in contrasting climate change, the environment and the loss of biodiversity. With 17.4% of the total cultivation area dedicated to bio-agriculture (2.1 million

“THE EXPORT OF ITALIAN AGRI-FOOD PRODUCTS TOTHE UAE HAVE REACHED DOUBLE DIGIT GROWTH IN 2022,WITH THE LARGER INCREASE AMONGTHEWHOLE PRODUCTS EXPORTED BY ITALYTOTHE UAE” hectares, + 79% from 2012), Italy is one of the European countries with the highest number of companies involved in the organic sector – over 80,000.

Over the last decade Italian agriculture recorded a drop of -32% for the use of phytosanitary products, confirming its position as the most sustainable country in Europe. The Italian industry with 30 M equivalent tons of CO generated is more virtuous than any other EU countries too.

Lulu Group and Ostrich Oasis announced the signing of a memorandum at Gulfood 2023, the world's biggest food and beverage trade show concluded recently at the Dubai World Trade Centre.

The MoU signed between Fahad Al Kitbi, chairman of Ostrich Oasis, and Riyad Jabbar, director of Al Tayeb International, a division of Lulu Group, is a great turning point for the future. The grand event happened in the presence of Sheikh Ahmed bin Hamdan Al Nahyan, Yusuff Ali MA, chairman and