Chinese high speed railway line opens opportunities in Italy

MILAN - High speed railway line took central stage at the Expo Milano 2015, where before the world exposition's ending day on Saturday, China left to Italy a legacy of collaboration opportunities.

High speed railway line is closely related to the China-proposed "Belt and Road" initiative, Wan Jun, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation (CRRC), said in his remarks at a round table dedicated to opportunity collaboration between China and Italy in the sector.

Wan recalled the fundamental role of the ancient Silk Road in making cultural and economic exchanges possible between the East and the West. More than 2,000 years later, the vision of a new Silk Road launched by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013 has revived the need for more collaboration in the era of technology, he said.

With 17,000 km high speed railway line, above 60 percent of the global total and extending at pace of 8.2 km each day, China offers huge collaboration potential in particular to countries with a vocation for innovation, such as Italy, Wan went on saying.

Among the six collaboration projects signed during the expo event, involving important companies and institutions from the two countries, a memorandum of cultural communication was signed between CRRC and Politecnico di Milano, a world-renowned scientific and technological university based in Milan.

Giuliano Noci, marketing professor at Politecnico di Milano, underlined the importance of the "Belt and Road" initiative, that he defined an "occasion to relaunch a connection which has made the history of the world's economic and technological development."

"China has become my second home, and going so often to China, my Chinese friends have taught me that events are the starting point and not the arrival point... I believe that Italy and China have the possibility to develop an extraordinary synergy as concerns innovation," Noci said.

How can this happen? "Italy's creativity perfectly combines with China's ability to build projects on a massive scale," Noci said, wishing that what he called a "Sino-Italian Way of Innovation" will be born from such a complementarity.

Riccardo Rosa, Vice President of UCIMU - the Italian machine tool, robots, automation systems and ancillary products manufacturers' association - said he was impressed by the rapid development of China's high speed railway line. "China infrastructures represent a fundamental opportunity of collaboration for our members, which produce the components of high speed trains," he said.

High speed railway line is closely linked to increased transport capacity of goods, underlined Paolo Besozzi, the head of the infrastructure company of Lombardy region, considered the wealthiest region of Italy and one of the most developed in Europe, of which the capital city is Milan.

Road and sea routes, Besozzi explained, are undergoing significant transformations at the global level, which needs new shared projects. Logistics, from ports to railways and airports which have strategic positions both in Italy and in China, plays a central role in this new scenario, he added.

The energy sector, for example, can also open high speed railway line-related opportunities, commented Claudio Nucci, General Manager of Ansaldo Energia, which provides plant engineering for turnkey power plants, including process, mechanical, civil, installation and start-up engineering.

Nucci recalled the long-term strategic agreement signed last year between Ansaldo Energia and Shanghai Electric, a world leader in the manufacture of power generation equipment and other machinery.

"This was the beginning of a great collaboration with China which we believe can have strong development, also in the field of green energies," he said.

The round table was part of the event dedicated to "Belt and Road" initiative and Chinese brands, held at the expo's China Pavilion and organized by CRRC in collaboration with China Corporate United Pavilion, one of the two corporate pavilions that China has besides its national pavilion at the Expo Milano 2015, the Italy-China Chamber of Commerce and People's Daily Media Group.