Gianluca Bagnara will attend the South African-Italian summit to be held in Johannesburg on 18-19 October 2016. Bagnara is an economist and sees the African country as a great opportunity.
“South African needs us and we need South Africa. They need our organisation and our concept of a chain from field to shelf. To us, South Africa can represent an opening to new global markets.”
We often think of Africa as a poor area where we can only export products, but it is not true. “While there are a lot of poor people in African metropolitan areas, 20% of citizens are very rich. Local produce does not reach these cities and anyway it would not be considered very good. Last week, in Congo, I saw onions sold at $4, potatoes at $5 and nectarines at $15 and a lot of people were buying them. With prices like that, everyone can make a profit. It is a paradox, but the real problem in Africa is excessive wealth.”
In order to be a protagonist on the international market, one must be a credible and reliable intermediary and, to do so, an alliance with complementary countries is needed. Just like the Netherlands do.