An insight from our Mediterranean members

The first meeting of the Mediterranean Circle was a great success, despite the attendees learning about the tradition of strikes in Italy occurring on a Friday morning, in order to have a long weekend.

Despite the best efforts of the unions in Rome delaying flights and travel, everyone got there on time, even though Nico’s luggage failed to appear throughout the conference!

Around 15 countries were represented at the meeting and it marked an important transition from the group’s previous status as the Latin Circle as it enabled new countries, including Israel, Malta, Cyprus and Greece to be included.

We had a presentation from Invitalia – an Italian government agency for inward investment and promotion of enterprise in the country.

It highlighted the significant trading advantages and the funding available to companies investing in Italy. Francesco Bartolucci’s firm, Studio Pragma, have a close working relationship with Invitalia. We had other presentations from members around the region who were attending for the first time, and I gave an update about what was going on in the UK and Ireland.

Francesco also gave an interesting presentation about something his firm are doing – advising clients on how to save on interest rate charges on the basis of helping buy futures in interest rates. His firm charges a percentage of money and is saving very significant amounts for clients.

Their strategy involves renegotiation of rates where possible, interest rate swaps and buying interest rate futures, with a significant upside advantage for clients. Francesco invites anyone from MGI who is interested in introducing their own clients to this scheme to contact him at his firm – a member of his team is a specialist in this area and the techniques can be applied worldwide.

We were treated to some great hospitality and cultural delights in what was a very positive, forward-thinking environment to be part of. It was good to be there.

The European circle conferences should be seen as an important opportunity to meet European members, and more are taking place soon. There is a meeting for German-speaking nations (although the conference will be in English) later in April, the Eastern European event takes place before the main European conference in June and the Nordic Circle meets in September.

Paul Winder
Chief Executive
MGI UK and Ireland
www.mgi-uk.com