On May 19, Liu Xin, Director General of the Sichuan Provincial Department of Commerce, met with the delegation led by Guido Bilancini, the newly appointed Italian Consul-General in Chongqing.

Director General Liu Xin extended warmly welcome to Consul-General Guido Bilancini who visited the Sichuan Provincial Department of Commerce for the first time, introduced Sichuan's phased achievements in the fight against COVID-19 and its current economic and social development, and put forward three suggestions for further strengthening economic and trade cooperation between Sichuan and Italy. First, he hoped to make every effort to give full play to the advantages of inland airports to explore more extensive cooperation with Italian enterprises by seizing the historic opportunity of building the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle and taking advantages of the new Land-Sea Trade Corridor and China Railway Express. Second, as Italy boasts a long history, beautiful scenery and splendid culture, he hoped that the two sides will take the Sino-Italian Cultural and Creative Innovation Park as a platform to actively promote their cooperation in economy, trade, culture and tourism. Third, he hoped that the two sides would enhance mutual visits and economic and trade exchanges between delegations at government and enterprise levels to jointly advance Sichuan-Italian cooperation to a higher level. In addition to acknowledging the above suggestions, Consul-General Guido Bilancini also said that Italy's consulate in Sichuan constitutes an important part of all consulates under Italy's jurisdiction, and he hoped to carry out more practical cooperation with the Sichuan Provincial Department of Commerce.

Heads of the Division of Trade Development, the Industry Division and the International Office also attended the meeting.