Italy opens consulate in Chongqing

As the first consulate in southwest China, the Italian Consulate General in Chongqing opened on Monday.

The consulate in Chongqing will be in charge of the southwest China's region, including Chongqing municipality, Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou provinces, and residents of these areas hopefully can apply for visas in Chongqing six months later.

Sergio Maffettone, the consul general in Chongqing said that, he will make sustainable development his main mission, to help promote closer economic ties between Italy and Chongqing.

"We chose Chongqing because, as the only municipality in southwestern China, we believed in Chongqing's potential in attracting more Italian investors, and undoubtedly, this is excellent news for both countries and for our businesses," he said.

Maffettone highlighted his mission to promote Sino-Italian cooperation on economic development. "In recent years, our government rated China's southwest region very highly, especially Chongqing."

"It is in our mutual interest to further strengthen Sino-Italian relations," he said during the opening ceremony. "And we are willing to further mutual trust and deepen bilateral cooperation in economic, environmental protection, agriculture, fashion, trade cooperation, urbanization and other fields."

He added that he looks forward to more cooperation between the two country's universities, "the cultural ties between Italy and Chongqing will create more appealing opportunities in the near future, I believed."

Chongqing is a good place for more Italian companies to invest in, and I also recommend more Chongqing people to our country," he said, adding that Italy will continue to increase the number of visas and simplify the application process in a bid to boost two-way tourism.