by Alessandra Cardone


ROME nike air vapormax 97 nz , June 14 (Xinhua) -- Enhancing cooperation with China on food safety is crucial to defend ""Made in Italy"" products on the global market, according to Italian Agriculture Minister Maurizio Martina.


""It is crucial for Italy to cooperate more and more with China at institutional level,"" Martina told Xinhua in a recent interview.


""More specifically, we need to strengthen all areas of legislative convergence nike air vapormax flyknit nz , in terms of protection and promotion of our (agribusiness) productions, and on some specific plant-health and technical-commercial issues that have to be managed together,"" he added.


The official made his remarks in an interview on the sidelines of a food safety conference organized by LUISS University and the Chinese embassy in the Italian capital on Tuesday.


Several experts from both countries drew together to discuss the best way to improve food safety, protect culinary excellences in both countries nike air vapormax 2018 nz , and fight counterfeit food.


The cooperation between Italy and China in this perspective has been developing within the ""Sino-Italian Food Safety Dialogue"" since 2013.


""Our ultimate goal is to build an ever deeper partnership, providing our agro-food products to the Chinese context in the right way, and -- at the same time -- recognizing the specificity of the Chinese experience here in Italy,"" Martina said.


Discussions at the conference also concerned e-commerce nike air vapormax womens nz , and Martina mentioned the recent agreement signed between Italy and Chinese online platform Alibaba as a model.


""It is an exemplary case on how to create a good interaction between public and private at international level and in a crucial sector such as e-commerce,"" the minister said.


The agreement was signed in Sept. 2016, setting up a mechanism of both promotion and protection of Made-in-Italy agricultural products for the online sales on the Chinese platform.


Fighting counterfeit food is key to the Italian economy. The food and wine industry is its second largest manufacturing sector, accounting for some 8 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP).