Italy footwear industry The Assocal said it supports Italy's proposal to reduce labour costs and make Italy more competitive. But the association thinks the government is right. Shoemaking Industry support should go further.

In November 15th, the Italy Footwear Manufacturers Association held its annual meeting in Florence. At the meeting, the association was not satisfied with the government's funding to reduce exports of manufactured goods in Italy. The chairman of the association, Cleto Sagripanti, said the government had withdrawn its export support fund of about 130 million euros a year.

"At this difficult time, especially for Russia's exports in important markets, the government's support for Italy's footwear exports is particularly important, because we need to develop new markets to make up for the loss of the market." The chairman said, "the proposal to reduce labor costs marks the beginning of a new manufacturing environment, demonstrating the government's firm support for growth goals and employment. But the government needs to take more measures to make the economy fully recover. We believe that the first step is to protect the industries we are good at.

He added that the association would appeal for "restarting" Italy manufacturing at the Florence conference.