It is not often that a professional category thanks the government: instead, the goldsmiths of Arezzo did so. The Council of Goldsmith Producers of Arezzo, in fact, «applauds the Italian Government and Minister Maria Elena Boschi for the valuable work that has been started in relation to the issue of the block on goldsmith exports to Algeria, which has caused the city to lose over 165 million euros in exports in 2014». The goldsmiths decided to do the wave because «it has welcomed with attention and sensitivity our appeal for prompt government action to put an end to this situation», commented Andrea Boldi, of the Council of Goldsmith Producers of Arezzo, «for us who are the most important goldsmith district, with over 1,300 companies and the first in Italy and Europe». The first result, which materialized during the Italian-Algerian intergovernmental summit, was the meeting of the Minister for Economic Development, Federica Guidi, with an Algerian delegation of entrepreneurs and the press conference with Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal where the Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi, cited the gold districts of Arezzo and Vicenza as important sectors of the national economy and for which there will be a strong commitment to their enhancement and the removal of the constraints that prevent their development. The block on exports of gold products to Algeria generated a drop of over 10% in Arezzo’s exports in the sector in 2014, a drastic reduction on a total of approximately 2 billion euros. A damage that must be added to that indirectly created by the block on Dubai: this involves over 560 million dollars of Italian products that arrived in Algeria from Dubai but were made in Italy.
According to Boldi, “Algerian gold importers are already willing to issue orders and letters of credit for several tens of millions of euros in favor of Italian companies, Arezzo and Vicenza.” If the import block were to be removed, it would translate into important orders for the companies. The possible solution to the impasse is seen as the result of the bridge that has been established between Arezzo, Vicenza and Rome, with the agreement that concerned fairs and joint promotion and with the decisive step taken today by Prime Minister Renzi aimed at supporting the Italian gold sector.
