On Friday, 10 June, the 2022 Annual General Assembly of Confindustria Marmomacchine took place in Milan. The Assembly, described as the most important event for the association and the Italian marble industry, was opened by the President, Marco De Angelis, in his speech.
Mr De Angelis began his speech by thanking the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Luigi Di Maio, who sent his greetings to the Assembly, the guests and the participants, and stressed how important it was for him to have been at the helm of Confindustria.
“Needless to say, today is also an opportunity for me to attempt a brief review of these four years of my presidency, a review that I consider, in my heart, positive, especially considering the commitment required to govern a complex reality such as that of Confindustria Marmomacchine”.
With the review coming out positive, Mr De Angelis stood on the relationships, personal and professional, established over the last four years that have enabled interaction with partners who have provided solutions to the various needs and requirements of the industry. At the same time, according to him, the review is also positive in terms of “the things done, and the initiatives implemented starting from maintaining a stable and growing membership base that now numbers over 330 member companies”.
Continuing, Marco De Angelis extensively referenced the key issues that will be on the agenda of his successors at the helm of Confindustria. In particular, he mentioned the rising cost of gas and energy and their impact on production costs, as well as the rising cost of many raw materials and the difficulty of finding them. However, he did not fail to mention the periodic Report created by Confindustria, along with PricePedia, on raw materials with a strong sectoral focus to guide entrepreneurs in the sector.
Mr De Angelis even spoke about other problems facing the industry, such as the declining orders and exports affected by developments in Europe and the general climate of uncertainty and sanctions against Russia. However, as he highlighted, “the Association must continue to raise awareness among the government and the relevant authorities so that it becomes even clearer that the risks of this period are potentially higher than those of the pandemic, which, I do not tire of repeating, has not yet been fully archived: one only has to think of the difficulties still faced by market countries as fundamental to our supply chain as the United States and China”.
Mr De Angelis concluded his speech in a positive tone, referring to the role of the marble industry as an ambassador of “Made in Italy” as the sector’s supply chain has been selected by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation as a pilot sector for the implementation of the first integrated promotion plan at international level.
