Press

Agrievolution:
world summit on agricultural mechanization

Representatives from all the major nations will gather in Rome to map out a world scenario of the agricultural economy and the trend of supply and demand for mechanical technologies. Planned for the two days of work, to be broadcast live in their entirety via satellite TV and the Internet, are a conference with technical reports delivered and a round table bringing together political authorities from the leading countries.

Agrievolution, the first summit on agricultural mechanization involving manufacturing associations from the world’s major countries, is scheduled for May 30 and 31 in Rome. The event is sponsored by the Italian National Union of Agricultural Machinery Manufacturers, Unacoma, and organized by the Unacoma Service surl service unit and will include the participation of delegates from manufacturers associations in Brazil (ABIMAQ), China (CAAM), Europe (CEMA), India (FICCI), Russia (SOYUZAGROMASH) and the United States (AEM) who will submit reports on the state of agriculture and mechanization in various areas of the world.

Work will be opened by a statement delivered by Geoffrey Mrema, Director of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Agricultural Support Systems Division, who will draw a picture of world agriculture as it appears today and lay out expectations of how this picture will evolve over the coming ten years. Among the other relaters will be Umberto Vattani, the president of ICE (Italian Foreign Trade Institute) Also delegations from Argentina, South Korea, Japan and South Africa will be on hand at Agrievolution along with the commercial attachés from a number of embassies as well as representatives from the ICE offices located in the countries most closely involved and most dynamic from the point of view of the primary economy. Emma Marcegaglia, the new president of the Italian Manufacturers Association, Confindustria, will also take part in the summit.

Planning includes an audience of representatives from professional and agricultural organizations, institutions and the academic world and live television broadcast of the proceedings on Sky channel 890 along with video streaming on the site dedicated to the event www.agrievolution.com and on the Unacoma site (www.unacoma.it).

After the inaugural day, dedicated to reports filed by the agricultural machinery manufacturers associations in the various countries, the summit will take up factors of agricultural and mechanization policy with the second day to include a round-table, moderated by journalist Alan Friedman, on the theme Agriculture in 2020 with the participation of Paul Skytte Christoffersen, the chef de cabinet of the European Commission for Agriculture and Rural Development. Also scheduled to take part are ministers and senior officials from the ministries for agriculture from Brazil, China, India, Russia, the United States and Italy. The round-table is set to conclude with a statement by Egyptian Minister for Agriculture Amin Ahmed Abaza who will discuss infrastructure and technology in the management of water resources in dry areas.

Announcing the summit, Unacoma President Massimo Goldoni declared, “The agricultural economy and the mechanization industry have now taken on a global scale and it is in the common interest to foster exchanges of information and dealings between those countries which will be the great leading players on the international scene in the coming years”.

The managing director of Unacoma Service, Guglielmo Gandino, added, “Agrievolution is an ambitious initiative because no one in the past has ever brought about a summit of this reach and it cannot be ruled out that this might become an appointment to be repeated periodically. Moreover, the Italian agricultural mechanization industry is one of the leaders at the international level and it is right to hold it up as a point of reference for agencies and organizations in the sector in all parts of the world”.

Rome, May 6, 2008

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