The Italian Trade Agency (ITA) today announced that Prime Minister Matteo Renzi will make his first official visit to Chicago on March 30, 2016. The visit by the Italian head of state will focus on Italian manufacturers in the Midwest at the ITA's i3 Forum=Impact. Innovate. Integrate. at the University of Chicago's Gleacher Center.

The U.S. is Italy's most important trading partner outside of the European Union with 7.5% of its total exports being sent to the U.S. In 2015, Illinois was the sixth largest importer of goods from Italy with almost $1.8 billion, an increase of almost seven percent over the previous year. Manufacturing is at the heart of this growth. In 2015, about a third of goods imported from Italy were machinery products with $516 million, followed by two sectors which had dynamic growth: chemical products with $459 million and food products with $130 million -- respectively with 86% and 14 % increases over the previous year. 

Read more

Source: http://www.einnews.com/