Mattarella in Kyoto for the second leg of his mission in Japan

The president of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, began the second stage of his mission in Japan, which began on March 3. Mattarella arrived in Kyoto in the early afternoon, after a three-day visit to Tokyo that culminated in meetings with Emperor Naruhito and Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.

After transferring to the Kyoto State Guesthouse, the President of the Republic has scheduled a visit to the Zen temple and the Nanzen-ji garden in the afternoon, followed by a meeting with his compatriots in the evening.

Mattarella meets Ishiba: “Italy-Japan relations are a pillar of the free and open international order”

The official mission of the President of the Republic to Japan, Sergio Mattarella, yesterday reached the peak of his institutional agenda, marked by the meeting in Tokyo with the Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, preceded in the morning by an event of Keidanren – the Japanese Confederation of Industry – attended by the top management of some of the most important companies in the two countries. On both occasions, the President of the Republic delivered speeches focused on the firm defense of the free, open and rules-based international order, and of the architecture of free trade, threatened by a return of protectionist tendencies. The historic relationship of friendship between Japan and Italy, which is based on a tradition of trust, shared values, and the common expression of great ancient civilizations, has taken on, according to Mattarella, an unprecedented strategic importance in the current scenario of global uncertainty, which sees the two countries jointly promoting a virtuous model of conducting international relations.

Welcomed with official honors at the Kantei, the official residence and office of the Japanese Prime Minister in Tokyo, Mattarella thanked Ishiba for the welcome he received from Japan. “The hospitality that Japan ensures is well known, but the attention paid in recent days in Tokyo to me, to my daughter Laura, and to the delegation that includes the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs (Edmondo Cirielli) is a tangible sign of the friendship that binds us and that is strongly reciprocated, in the belief that we can move forward together in the many reasons that unite our peoples”. Yesterday’s meeting with Prime Minister Ishiba, Mattarella explained, allowed us first of all to acknowledge with real satisfaction the growth of bilateral relations; a development “in which Prime Minister Ishiba himself collaborated”. The elevation of relations between Japan and Italy to the rank of strategic partnership, in January 2023, “has given new impetus to cooperation between Tokyo and Rome, allowing us to achieve, in just over two years, truly important results,” said Mattarella.

The two countries have deepened political dialogue at all levels, as emerged in the collaboration for the relay of Japan and Italy at the presidency of the G7, in the two-year period 2023-2024. The range of bilateral initiatives has been expanded, and the exchange of ideas, points of view and initiatives between our countries is now open to all areas. “We discuss disarmament as well as film co-productions, new technologies for space as well as the new challenges posed by the aging of the population, a problem common to Japan and Italy”: a remarkable work, carried out with tenacity and foresight by two countries that “move in the present, plan the future, aware of their respective millenary civilizations”. Italy, continued Mattarella, knows it can build an increasingly solid partnership with Japan, “to the full advantage not only of our peoples, but of an international order based on rules, free, open, inclusive, peaceful, with certain rules applicable regardless of any consideration of economic and military power”, said Mattarella. “These certain, clear rules, valid for all, constitute the only possible protection for international stability: it is valid for Europe as well as for the immense space of the Indo-Pacific”. Defending principles such as freedom of navigation, added Mattarella, “serves to guarantee a horizon of development and growth that would otherwise be precluded”.

On the basis of these principles, which Italy and Japan share, Mattarella and Ishiba reviewed some theaters of crisis, starting with the one in Ukraine. The two countries, said the President of the Republic, “hope that a just peace, in line with the principles of the UN Charter, adequately guaranteed at an international level, can finally be found for Ukraine, to put an end to the tragedy caused by Russian aggression three years ago”. Tokyo and Rome, said the President of the Republic, make an important contribution to peace efforts “with the concept of open societies, with markets open to collaboration and the willingness to collaborate in every field with any other country in mutual respect and trust”. A model, added Mattarella, that “we hope will be adopted in every part of the world”. The bilateral relationship, so intense and fruitful, is part of the broader context of relations between Japan and the European Union. “These relations have also strengthened a lot in recent years. It is a partnership that Italy supports with conviction, with the hope that it will produce important results in the economic and commercial fields, as well as in the defense of principles and values that both parties consider essential”.

The Prime Minister of Japan also highlighted the unprecedented importance of bilateral relations. The collaboration between Tokyo and Rome, two strategic partners that share values and principles, is increasingly important in an international context in which Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific security are now inextricably linked, Ishiba said. In just 8 months since the announcement of the Bilateral Action Plan, in the summer of last year, “very important steps forward have been made in comprehensive cooperation, from the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) to the film co-production agreement”, Ishiba recalled. In today’s meeting “we agreed to consolidate these results, and further promote cooperation in the fields of diplomacy, economics, cultural and personal exchanges”. Ishiba recalled that the Osaka 35 World Expo will open in just 2025 days, and said he had learned that the Italian Pavilion “will be one of the most fascinating and exciting” at the Expo, due to its busy program of events and the combination of history and innovation that Italy will exhibit to Japan and the world.

The President of the Republic also referred to the Expo, calling it “an extraordinary showcase” to show the world Italy’s excellence. “I hope it will be a further opportunity for us Japanese to get to know Italy and Italians better,” said the Prime Minister, adding that he had “given instructions to collaborate closely to speed up preparations and celebrate in grand style the 160 years of bilateral diplomatic relations” next year. In the morning, Mattarella attended a meeting in Tokyo organized by the Federation of Japanese Economic Federations (Keidanren, the Japanese Confindustria) with the participation of the organization’s top management and representatives of important Japanese and Italian businesses. In addition to the President of the Republic, the Vice President and President of the Europe Committee of Keidanren, Toshiaki Higashihara, and the Parliamentary Vice Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan, also spoke at the event. Shinji Takeuchi. The increasingly important role of cooperation between Italy and Japan, in a global context marked by growing instability and new protectionist tendencies, was at the center of the interventions of Mattarella and the other speakers.

Japan and Italy, Mattarella began, will celebrate next year the 160th anniversary of the treaty that marked the formal beginning of their bilateral relations: relations “that immediately went beyond institutional relations and trade – the object of the agreement of that distant 25 August 1866 – grafting themselves, through cultural and interpersonal exchanges, into the processes of modernization and mutual influence that resulted from it”. Over the decades, Italy and Japan “have lived, side by side – ancient civilizations – along the tortuous avenue of history”, going through “the season of modernity of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; the dark period of expansionist authoritarianism”. The two countries “have built, together, the path of democracy and peace in the post-World War II period, in the international context that emerged, after very high prices, from the dramatic world conflict”. Both “have been able to affirm the close link between democracy and prosperity, entering, rightfully, among the industrialized countries of the G7, following principles such as freedom, respect, multilateralism. Both transformative countries, we have been able to make the industriousness of our two peoples a vehicle for an ever greater development of international trade and interdependence. A bond, a similarity, that still resists and prospers today”.

Like other members of the international community, Italy and Japan “are now faced with new challenges, global issues that question our time. The telecommunications sector and the digital environment, computer computing, have been at the center of the powerful transformation of recent decades,” said Mattarella. “From the widespread diffusion of cell phones to immediate access to the web, to artificial intelligence, we are facing a change comparable to that of the revolutions brought about in the mid-7th century with the invention of Gutenberg’s movable printing type. Every change – said the President of the Republic – must be governed and oriented towards the growth of the community, so that it is ‘for’ the person and not ‘on’ the person.” Mattarella defined as meritorious, in this sense, the initiative promoted by Japan during the presidency of the G2023, in 7, with the “Hiroshima Code of Conduct” aimed at organizations that develop advanced artificial intelligence systems: a witness that the Italian government has collected during its presidency of the GXNUMX, committing to implement it, with the development of a monitoring and validation system.

The topics of reflection on the future of our societies have long been at the attention of the business communities of the two countries. In this regard, Mattarella recalled the idea of “Society 5.0” promoted by Keidanren, a paradigm for integrating technology and the needs of the person in the definition of a “digital humanism”. These are, continued the President of the Republic, “questions posed by the ‘ageing society’ – the society of the elderly – common to Japan and Italy”. In Japan and Italy, the data on life expectancy are flattering, proving the quality of the environment and the health systems of the two countries. Low birth rates – warned the President, however – produce the aging of the population, and combined with technological acceleration, trigger phenomena with wide social repercussions, requiring the reformulation of consolidated models of life.

In addition to the digital transition, Italy and Japan are equally committed to the green transition to combat the effects of climate change. Safeguarding the planet and its resources, said Mattarella, “is not a path that can be undertaken alone. Using the language of the mountains, it is, rather, a team that requires trust and collaboration, which is expressed through dialogues, agreements, conferences and protocols, such as those of Paris, Glasgow and Dubai, followed by coherent measures and behaviors, animated by a desire to materialize”. Europe and Japan, added the President of the Republic, have undertaken, in parallel, an ambitious path: in 2020 the European Union officially launched the Green Deal to achieve climate neutrality. Japan, on the other hand, approved the GX Promotion Act in 2023, with ambitious decarbonization objectives by 2050.

The two countries are also working on the development of innovative technologies, focusing – among other things – on increasingly sustainable agriculture and hydrogen as a source of energy supply. Italy “is among the top countries in Europe in terms of circular economy, recycling, renewable energy. Japan, on the other hand, is among the main global promoters of research and development of new technologies for energy efficiency”. These are areas that look to the future, “involving the development of industries capable of generating millions of jobs and considerable growth”. According to Mattarella, the environment, research, and development represent “a happy union”: “the close relationship that unites the European Union and Japan is the result of a common feeling: the awareness that only a relationship between equals in international life leads to widespread advantages and that this is based on the law and institutions set up for this purpose”.

The integration between the markets of Italy and Japan is therefore increasingly close, allowing the two countries to address the protectionist trends underway at a global level. “Today the integration between the two markets is increasingly close, thanks to the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), signed in 2019 between Tokyo and Brussels, which eliminated duties on European exports to Japan and vice versa, far from return protectionism,” said Mattarella. The presence of Italian companies with interests in Japan and Japanese companies with interests in Italy is impressive, and “there are numerous opportunities to be seized together. Positive in this direction is the activity of the Italy-Japan Business Group,” which on May 13 will host a session in Rome dedicated to strengthening partnerships in the economic and commercial sector. The Japanese economy “is thus increasingly confirmed as a strategic interlocutor for our continent, committed as it is also to building intercontinental relations that support peace, stability, prosperity.” The idea of a free and open Indo-Pacific “is essential for the development of the world and a decisive field for the alleviation of tensions and the containment of pressures to exercise dominion in these seas”. “Once again, the alternative is between cooperation and claims of domination”, warned the President of the Republic, referring to the ongoing crises at the international level, which undermine the rules-based international order.

During his speech at the Keidanren headquarters, Mattarella underlined the importance of cooperation between Italy and Japan in the technological field. The development of new technologies for the double transition – digital and environmental – “does not happen by chance, but is the result of years of research that, at times, also find multiple applications compared to what was originally imagined”, said Mattarella, adding that “the fruitful agreement of scientific and technological cooperation, carried out for almost forty years by our countries, constitutes a framework in which hundreds of collaborations between universities and research institutions have developed, allowing the realization of bilateral projects of great importance”. The President of the Republic recalled the collaborations between the two countries on batteries and gravitational waves, as well as those relating to the space sector, “with projects dedicated to the observation of the Earth and the exploration of the cosmos”.

These are “experiences that not only benefit the growth of our countries, but are also functional to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations,” said the President of the Republic, who also cited “the “living laboratory” of Expo Osaka 2025, which expresses this same sensitivity. ‘Designing the society of the future for our lives,’ said Mattarella, citing the theme of the Expo, is exactly what we need, what humanity needs in order to find answers to the urgent questions that humanity itself is asking today as it looks to its future.” These sensitivities, concluded the President of the Republic, “must not fall on deaf ears with the institutions, but an environment such as the one in which we find ourselves – in two countries that are founded on the values of freedom and democracy – allows me to underline the irreplaceable role played by civil societies – in this case in particular by the business world – in courageously opening new paths, in bearing witness to the capital of cohesion of the respective communities. It is up to all of us, that is, to put ourselves to the test and make the most of the resources we have. Japan and Italy have already shown that they know how to join forces. To continue to grow, together, in peace”.

Mattarella in Japan — The President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, with the Vice President of Keidanren, Toshiaki Higashihara

Also for Toshiaki Higashihara, Vice President and President of the Keidanren Europe Committee, the partnership between Japan and Italy is increasingly important in an international context of growing uncertainty, and in which protectionism is once again gaining ground. “It is increasingly important for like-minded partners such as Italy and Japan to work together to safeguard a rules-based international order,” said Higashihara, who said “it is significant that the public and private sectors of our two countries are discussing challenges and deepening cooperation today.” Higashihara stressed the importance of the strategic partnership agreement signed by Italy and Japan in 2023 and the Action Plan approved last year, which underpins the strengthening of cooperation in areas such as defense and security, sustainable growth, resilient supply chains and the fight against climate change. Particularly important, according to the Vice President of Keidanren, is the strengthening of the partnership between Japan and Italy in the areas of defense and economic security, in the face of global risks common to both countries. Higashihara urged to build and strengthen resilient supply chains, based on the reliability that the two countries recognize in each other. “The world – said the vice president of Keidanren – continues to consider the protection of free trade important: a priority that unites the Italian Confindustria and Keidanren”, as well as “the priority given to the freedom of economic activity, which must be preserved as much as possible in the pursuit of economic security”.

The Parliamentary Vice Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan, Shinji Takeuchi, said at the event organized by Keidanren that Japan and Italy have demonstrated that they can jointly assume a leading role for the international community, through their adherence to fundamental values and principles such as freedom, democracy and the rule of law. Takeuchi highlighted the leadership shown by Japan and Italy on issues of great global importance – from technological development to economic and supply chain security, to the fight against climate change – through their succession to the presidency of the G7.

“We will continue to work to strengthen cooperation in key areas,” said the Japanese vice minister, mentioning collaboration between Japan and Italy in the railway sector, in defense – with the Global Combat Air Program (Gcap) – and through the creation of research and development centers in the field of AI. Takeuchi also emphasized that Japan is even playing a role in the Messina Strait Bridge project. “These and other projects demonstrate the potential of technological collaboration between companies from the two countries,” said the vice minister, according to whom the Osaka 2025 World Expo, scheduled for next month, and the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics will give further impetus to bilateral economic and people-to-people relations.

Representatives of major Italian and Japanese companies also participated in the meeting organized yesterday at the Keidanren headquarters: among the Italian companies, in particular, executives from Acmi, Advanet/Eurotech, Brunello Cucinelli, Bulgari, Carpigiani, Dana, Danieli, Essilor-Luxottica, Wtro, Ferrari, Gucci, Intesa Sanpaolo, ITA Airways, Marposs, Mermec, Msc Cruises Japan, Pirelli, Savino del Bene, Technogym, Thales Group and Unifor took part in the event. The Japanese presence was also important, with representatives of major groups such as Ihi Corporation, Inpex, Itochu, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Marubeni, Mitsubishi Electric, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Sumitomo Chemical; and also Bridgestone, Mitsui Bussan, Nec, Nippon Gases, Tokyo Gas Network, and the car manufacturers Honda and Suzuki Motor. The mission of the President of the Republic will continue in the coming days in Kyoto and Hiroshima.