Vincenzo Petrone

Trade not Aid:  International Trade as an Equalizer of Living Standards

In few years, in China and India over 250 million men, women and children have crossed the absolute poverty line. In order to accommodate the emerging countries' competition in our markets, we have to radically restructure our industrial system.
The alternative would be either protectionism or a dramatic degradation of the standards of living in our society.

International trade and economic development are not a zero sum game. Much depends on the right Government policies but entrepreneurs remain the key players.

Vincenzo Petrone is a career diplomat of over thirty years who was appointed to his present position by the President of Confindustria*, Luca Cordero di Montezemolo (also CEO of Ferrari) because of his international expertise. He has twice represented Italian economic and trade interests for tours of duty at the UN in New York; also at the Italian Embassy in New Delhi; in Bonn, Germany and in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Mr. Petrone was back in Italy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1982 for four years, and again from '94 till 2000 when he took a four year stint as Italian Ambassador to Brazil. He has held his present position since last November, and it is his extensive global overview that makes him a valuable speaker at this conference.

*The Confederation of Italian Industry