Chiara Valduga

President and CEO (Presidente e Amministratrice Delegata), Gruppo Cividale Acciaieria Fonderia Cividale Spa

Search every verified Chiara Valduga interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Chiara Valduga, president and CEO of Gruppo Cividale Acciaieria Fonderia Cividale Spa, spoke at an event in 2014 about the company's international expansion, particularly a joint venture in Russia. She described the venture as involving three other valve manufacturers—two Russian (Conar and Gusar) and one Kazakh (Ugatz)—in which the Russian partners provided market access while Gruppo Cividale contributed technology. Valduga noted that the initial phase was complicated due to all partners being inexperienced in internationalization and that after months of stalled negotiations, the group decided to accept the risks and proceed. She stated that the company had also evaluated a similar investment in India but chose Russia because, in their view, the Russian market offered "greater guarantees." Valduga addressed the impact of the Russian ruble's decline and Western embargoes on the company's operations. She said that the ruble's fall did not directly affect Gruppo Cividale because the company sells both to Italy and Russia, though she noted a recent trend of Russian clients requesting contracts in rubles, which the company was exploring with banks. She added that the embargo codes related to valves were excluded from sanctions, so the company had not experienced negative effects. Valduga also commented that internationalization operations are often "criminalized" as delocalization, but argued that in some cases it is the only way for Italian companies to remain competitive, and that the Russian venture had generated significant work volumes for the Italian foundries.