By Trend

Cooperation between Italian SACE state export-credit agency and Uzbekistan’s Uzbekinvest national insurance company is aimed at exchanging information on transactions of mutual interest, with a focus on small and medium enterprises (SME), representative of SACE told Trend in an interview.

At a meeting of the Berne Union in Indian city of Hyderabad, Uzbekinvest and SACE signed a cooperation agreement, which opens up great opportunities for cooperation in providing insurance coverage to exporters of the two countries, including in the field of co-insurance and reinsurance of joint Uzbek-Italian enterprises in third countries.

"Working together is a win-win approach for all involved. It makes the purchase of high-quality Italian products and services more affordable for Uzbek buyers while facilitating the realization of projects involving Italian companies and their counterparts in Uzbekistan, benefiting the economies of both countries," the representative stated.

As the official noted, SACE looks forward to working with Italian and local companies in Uzbekistan in small and large deals.

"Uzbekistan has good structure in automotive, hydrocarbons, electronics, chemical, pharmaceutical and food industries, and strongly focuses on modernization and acquisition of high technology. For all these reasons, Italy has opportunities for improvement in commercial and export trade between the two countries, especially for plant and machinery in textile sector, agribusiness and metal processing," the representative added.

SACE, which is export and internationalization hub of Cassa depositi e prestiti Group, helps Italian businesses confront such obstacles as periodic slowdowns, protectionism, geo-political crises and debt in the global trade, while also working with foreign companies.

It offers a wide range of insurance and financial instruments capable of satisfying every requirement connected to activity on foreign markets.

In particular, SACE and its subsidiaries offer export credit, credit insurance, foreign investment protection, financial guarantees, surety bonds and factoring and debt collection services.

Outside of Italy, SACE has 11 offices, including in Moscow (opened in 2006).