The Bergamo Chamber of Commerce closes 2023 with a surplus of over 2.6 million, exceeding the result of 2022 by 700 thousand euros, despite the decline in registered businesses and the increase in economic commitments for the territory. Of the over 20 million in current income, 13.2 million are represented by annual rights and 6.3 by secretarial rights, but in 2023 the chamber of commerce also collected 425,954 euros gross in Sacbo dividends, which the management company of the airport hadn’t been off for three years.
Carlo Mazzoleni
«It was particularly important for the Chamber of Commerce to have fully carried out its institutional role of supporting and stimulating the territorial economic-productive world in 2023 in a scenario of strong uncertainty – underlined the president Carlo Mazzoleni in the Chamber of Commerce council on Monday 6 May -. The initiatives carried out came close to 13 million, an increase of over 1.5 million compared to the average of the previous three years, supporting the positions of Bergamo companies on the national and international markets”.
An important figure, which derives from the sum of 8.5 million Chamber of Commerce resources (270 thousand euros more than in 2022) used to promote internationalisation, innovation, sustainability and tourism, and 4 million from the Lombardy Region managed by the body, intended for energy efficiency interventions, new businesses, historic businesses, the development of the quality of the artisan sector, the digitalisation of production processes and circular economy solutions.
«Among last year’s initiatives, I would like to mention Made, the project dedicated to business culture narrated through the language of cinema – Mazzoleni recalled -. Conceived by the Chamber of Commerce as a contribution to Bergamo Brescia Italian Capital of Culture 2023, it represents a new piece of the concrete support that the Chamber provides to the local economy and its businesses and the consensus was such as to induce us to work on the second edition, which will be held from 15 to 17 November.”
The Chamber has also reached 36 million in capitalized surpluses, with an increase of 5 million in the last two years: «This allows us to look at future commitments with serenity»
«Having balanced process efficiency and attention to management with the implementation of all the ordinary and extraordinary activities that characterized 2023 – added the general secretary Maria Paola Esposito – shows that the Chamber of Commerce, at all its levels, decision-making, management and management, has been able to carry out its institutional role with efficiency and effectiveness, always keeping closeness to the Bergamo economic community at the centre”.
The Chamber has also reached 36 million in capitalized surpluses, with an increase of 5 million in the last two years. «This allows us to look at future commitments with serenity – Mazzoleni pointed out – both in the hypothesis of increasing the chamber’s presence in Sacbo through the right of pre-emption on shares or the right to purchase the unexercised shares of other shareholders, and with regard to the future of the Fair”.
The via Lunga match
Regarding the via Lunga hub, Mazzoleni announced that at the beginning of July the Chamber of Commerce will finally acquire the shares of Bergamo Fiera Nuova now held by private individuals, coming to own 51.63% of the company. The necessary amount, 1,780,542 euros, has already been set aside in the 2024 budget. With Bergamo Fiera Nuova entirely in public hands it will then be possible to proceed with the program agreement aimed at obtaining the regional financing necessary for the expansion of the exhibition spaces .
«This objective – Mazzoleni specified – is achieved after the agreement reached between Bergamo Fiera Nuova and the Municipality of Bergamo, to which the company recognized an additional shareholding, equal to 3.3 million euros, on the occasion of a specific increase in the share capital, to take into account the greater value that the Municipality could be called upon to recognize to the previous owners of the land expropriated for the construction of the Fair”.
