Mattarella, "Italy and Japan built peace and democracy together"

Italy and Japan, protagonists of millennial civilizations, “in the decades they lived, side by side along the tortuous avenue of history”, and after “the dark period of expansionist self -portrait”, have “built the way of democracy and peace in the second post -war period”. This was said by the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, intervening to Keidanren, the Japanese Confindustria. “Japan and Italy have been able to affirm the close link between democracy and prosperity, entering, rightly, among the industrialized countries of the G7, following principles such as freedom, respect, multilateralism”, continued Mattarella by listing in another passage of his speech the numerous challenges that are equally facing the two countries: from the environmental to demographic and technological development.

“The close relationship that unites the European Union and Japan – recalled the Head of State – is the result of a common feeling: the awareness that only a relationship between equal in international life leads to widespread advantages and that this is based on the right and institutions arranged for this purpose. Today the integration between the two markets is increasingly tighter”, continued Mattarella, recalling that the economic partnership agreement (EPA), signed in 2019 Brussels, “has eliminated the duties of European exports to Japan and vice versa, far from return protectionisms”. “The Japanese economy, which is placed among the first in the world, is thus confirmed more and more for our strategic interlocutor continent, committed as it is also in the construction of intercontinental relationships that support peace, stability, prosperity”.

Then, addressing a thick parterre gathered in the headquarters of the Confindustria of Tokyo, Mattarella said that “the idea of ​​a free and open Indo-Pacific is essential for the development of the world and a decisive field for the lightening of tensions and the containment of pushes to the exercise of lordships in these seas. Once again the alternative is between cooperation and demands of domination”.

The President of the Republic therefore called “imposing” the presence of Italian companies with interests in Japan and Japanese with interests in Italy: “Many industrial collaborations and many direct investments have been made and the opportunities to be seized are very numerous”. Among the “positive” examples of these collaborations, the activity of the Italian-Japanese business group was mentioned. In addition, – he added – “I am pleased that Rome guests, on May 13, a session dedicated to the strengthening of partnerships in the economic and commercial sector”, underlining once again as the Japanese economy, in a moment of “growing challenges” both for our country and for Europe, a interlocutor and a strategic partner: “Japan and Italy have already shown that they know how to unite the efforts to continue growing, together, in peace,”

“The fruitful scientific and technological cooperation agreement, carried out for almost forty years from our countries, constitutes a frame in which hundreds of collaborations have developed between universities and research bodies allowing to carry out bilateral projects of great importance”, still noted the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella, underlining how “on these foundations, the strategic partnership started in 2023 has stimulated further initiatives”. Among these, he remembered, “the one on the batteries and the one on gravitational waves”, beyond “the initiatives in the space sector, with projects dedicated to the observation of the earth and the exploration of the cosmos”. These are experiences, said the head of state, “which do not only go to the benefit of the growth of our countries, but are also functional to achieving the sustainable development objectives set by the United Nations”. And finally, mentioning at Expo Osaka 2025 who will soon open its doors, Mattarella has mentioned the Japanese “Living Lab” project to draw the societies of the future in the sign of environmental sustainability: “It is exactly what we need to find the urgent questions that humanity arises today by looking at their future”, he concluded.