Mr. Rosario PEDICINI, President of the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Japan, Mr. Davide FANTONI, Secretary General of the ICCJ, members of the ICCJ Board and companies managers, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Good evening! It is a great pleasure to see all of you here again for the 2024 General Assembly of the Chamber!
Let me firstly say that 2023 has been an incredible year for the bilateral relationship between Italy and Japan, in particular in the economic and trade sectors, probably as never happened before.
In this room, last year we announced the launch in Rome of the “strategic partnership” between our Countries, as agreed by Prime Ministers Meloni and Kishida.
As I said during last year’s ICCJ general meeting, I was convinced that the strategic partnership was going to create momentum for promoting deeper industrial cooperation and academic research, as well as more business opportunities in many sectors of common priority interest.
Looking back to the last twelve months, I can proudly say that all of this occurred and all of us, working in close cooperation, have contributed to this giant leap forward in the bilateral relations.
All along 2023, we had a record number of successful governmental visits – 26 in total – several missions from Italian regions (Emilia Romagna, Puglia, Lazio, Sardegna and Piemonte), and delegations from companies, Universities and Research Institutions.
While this clearly has shown to our Japanese friends how committed we were and we are to deepen our industrial, technological, cultural and commercial cooperation in the next years, we also have to acknowledge that the trust and commitment we dedicated to strengthen this relationship was greatly reciprocated by the Japanese institutions and companies.
High-level bilateral meetings; the Agreement on movie coproduction; two Memorandum of Cooperation in the fields of science and technology and industrial cooperation; and last but not least business events such us the IJBG and the Italy Innovation Days focusing on space economy, enhanced the perception and the image of Italy as one of the most modern and technologically advanced countries in the global landscape.
Those results are also evident if we look at some figures in terms of bilateral trade. Based on preliminary data, in 2023 we have an increase in trade of about 10% compared to the previous year and the threshold of 15 billion euros reached in 2022 is likely to be easily overpassed.
However, we believe that our bilateral trade and our industrial agreements and our scientific cooperation have a great potential of further growth. Therefore, our task this year is to accompany our economic and scientific systems to exploit these opportunities and I am very confident that building on the strong foundation created this year, we will be capable to further expand our partnership.
In this context, promoting the “Made in Italy” and supporting our companies and entrepreneurs in Japan remain our main objectives of our “Diplomacy for Growth”, we must also aim at attracting more Japanese investments to Italy, as well as to expand the presence of the Italian companies here, particularly small and medium sizes companies and startup.
The six pillars of the IJBG – green technologies, agri-tech, mobility, biotechnology, microelectronics and aerospace – will guide us in this challenging endeavor and will also be fundamental in order to build together the “road to Expo Osaka 2025”, giving all of us the responsibility to make Italy grow substantially in this important market.
The upcoming visit by the Prime Minister Meloni, expected to land in Tokyo in a few days to illustrate the Italian G7 Presidency’s priorities and discuss bilateral issues, as well as the visit by the Minister for Agriculture Lollobrigidida in early March, will certainly contribute to this effort.
Let me conclude by extending to the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Japan my gratitude for the exceptional work done during last year and my best wishes for success to all its members.
Thank you. Buon lavoro.