Italian National Day

Secretariat October 4, 2016 Newsletter

at Expo 2016 Antalya

The Italian National Day has been celebrated on Semptember 28^th at the presence of Italy’s Undersecretary of the Ministry of Economic Development Ivan Scalfarotto, CEO and General Director of Italian Foreign Trade and Promotion Agency Piergiorgio Borgogelli, the Italian Ambassador Luigi Mattiolo and General Commissioner of EXPO 2016 Antalya Agency Ambassador Erdoğan Kök.

Ceremony started with singing of national anthems of two countries. In his opening speech Undersecretary Scalfarotto noted that Turkey was one of the most important trade partners of Italy. He said that over one thousand and 300 Italian companies were active in Turkey and they invested more than 4,5 billion dollars in the country. He also pointed out that there were also some Turkish firms that made investments in Italy.

Turkey’s Deputy Undersecretary of Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ambassador Murat Esenli also spoke at the ceremony. He expressed his pleasure for celebration Italian National Day in Antalya. He said: “Like every expo, this expo also aims at sharing innovation, finding solutions to common problems and raising people’s consciousness. It also presents an opportunity for people and countries to promote their cultures as they interact with each other, to experience different tastes and richness, to participate in social activities and improve their trade relations. In this respect, we can say that EXPO Antalya has fulfilled its mission.”

After official meeting, Undersecretary Scalfarotto signed EXPo 2016 Antalya guestbook. The delegations then visited Italian Garden together and were briefed about important features of Italian gardens and Italian landscape design directly from the Italian Architect Marco Servalli, author of the Italian Garden Concept.

After garden visit, a cocktail party was organzed during which Italy’s famous musician Eugenio Bennato had a 10-minute acoustic performance. That was like a prelude for his concert in the evening. Italian singer gave a concert with his band “Taranta Power” at Little Amphitheatre in the evening.

In honour of National Day celebrations landmark Turkcell EXPO Tower were illuminated with colours of Italian flag.