Aluminium Age seminar sets the ball rolling for Indo-Italian Aluminium industry majors

The Indo-Italian MetalHub seminar titled ‘Aluminium Age’ held last Saturday, January 20, in Bhubaneshwar, Odisha, heralded a new era of cooperation between Indian and Italian aluminium industry players.

The high-level delegation from Italy comprising Mario Conserva, General Manager A&L and Vice President Alfin-Edimet, the founding company of METEF, Mauro Cibaldi, President Centro Al – Assomet, Maurizio Sala, President Amafond, representing the Associations: Amafond, Assomet, Assofond, Francesco Esposito, Carmelo Brocato, Vice President DCMK, Danieli&C, Giuseppe Giordano, FACE, Prof Alberto Cavicchiolo GM, Art Valley, and Alberto Pomari, the Marketing Director of A&L aluminium magazine showed genuine interest in investing at the upcoming downstream aluminium park at Angul.

The delegates made significant contribution to the roundtable meetings where they discussed about Aluminium Business: Global scenario and East-West future prospects, Aluminium Park Ventures, Future prospects of Aluminium in Automotive, Food and Pharma Packaging sectors, and Industrial and Financial Challenges in Global Aluminium Industry.  

They also talked about the role of METEF in positioning Italian downstream industry in the global aluminium map. METEF- the International Metals Expo, is an event promoted by Alfin-Edimet Spa with the support of the Italian Aluminium Associtation and other major associations of the sector such as AMAFOND, ASSOMET, ASSOFOND, and ASSOFERMET to name a few.

Here’s a video clipping of one of the roundtable meetings held at the Indo-Italian MetalHub seminar:

Mr Kamal Prakash, Director Jiwanram Sheoduttrai Group, Kolkata, who was special guest for the inaugural function welcomed the delegates on behalf of the Aluminium Association of India (AAI). He delivered an insightful speech on how Indian-Italian trade relations have evolved over the years.  

In Aluminium in Automotive session, Mr Abhrajit Chatterjee of Uniseven, a JS Group Company, spoke about why aluminium is being considered as the metal of choice for automobile manufacturing. He stressed on aluminium’s versatility in terms of strength, formability, and recyclability and how it scores over steel as an automotive building material due to its lightweighting ability and high crash energy absorptive power.

Here’s the video clipping of his speech:

Mr Damiano Francovigh, Italian Consul General in India, expressed hope over the improving bilateral relations between the two countries. He said, “Strengthening economic cooperation between India and Eastern India will go a long way in improving relations between Italy and India.”  

Odisha’s industries minister Mr Niranjan Pujari upheld his state’s competitive advantage with respect to the global industry scenario saying, “Odisha offers the perfect ecosystem to be the Hub of Aluminium sector and we are committed to forging strong economic tie with Italy. The molten aluminium can be directly obtained from Nalco when the Angul Aluminium Park becomes operational.’’

AlCircle, represented by Vice President Mr Vikas Devnani participated at the Indo-Italian Metal Hub programme that spanned two days. Mr Devnani made an insightful presentation on the second day, dedicated exclusively to the comprehensive aluminium platform and its innovative digital solutions. Here's a video clipping of his presentation:

Some of the dignitaries who represented Indian aluminium industry at the event were S.K.Dash, Treasurer- Aluminium Association of India & Executive Director (Business Development & R&D), NALCO, K.C. Samal, Director (Finance), Nalco, Sanjay Kumar Singh, CMD, IDCO, Sanjeev Chopra, Additional Chief Secretary-cum-Principal Secretary to the Government, Department of Industries, Government of Odisha, Dr. Anupam Agnihotri, Director, JNARDDC, Dr. B.K.Satpathy, Visiting Scientist, IIT, and senior officials from Uniseven, JS Group.