ICE-Italy Commissariat sign Expo 2025 protocol of agreement

(ANSA) - ROME, AUG 27 - The General Commissariat for Italy at Expo 2025 Osaka and Foreign Trade Agency ICE for the promotion abroad and the internationalization of Italian companies have signed a protocol of agreement to boost exports of Italian-made products and to favour business opportunities for Italian companies during the Universal Exhibition in the Japanese city.
    The cooperation that aims to favour the participation of the Italian entrepreneurial system at Expo 2025 Osaka, with a particular focus on small and medium-sized companies - according to a statement - was signed in Tokyo on board the Amerigo Vespucci historic Italian navy training and sailing ship, which reached Japan for the first time in its history, together, on this occasion, with Villaggio Italia, the 'Multi-annual itinerant world exhibition' of Italian excellence that offers visitors a unique experience to get acquainted with Italy's beauty through its art, culture, music, food, cinema, technology and scientific research.
    "The agreement signed with the ICE Agency widens the network of institutional partnerships signed by the General Commissariat for Italy at Expo 2025 Osaka to welcome the Italian productive system that will arrive in Japan within an institutional context of support and development of trade relations", commented Ambassador Mario Vattani, the General Commissioner for Italy at Expo 2025 Osaka.
    "We will work together for the promotion of strategic projects to publicize the innovation of the Italian production world, also through the participation of Italian regions that we will bring to the great global stage of Expo and to boost economic and commercial relations between Italy and Japan", Vattani went on to say.
    "Expo 2025 Osaka not only represents a window to promote and get (the public) acquainted with Made in Italy but also a crucial opportunity to create new synergies between our excellence and strategic markets like that of Japan and the Asian-Pacific" region, said Matteo Zoppas, president of the ICE Agency.
    "With this protocol of agreement, we stress our strong commitment in turning events organized during Expo into key moments for the development of Made in Italy, favouring the encounter between demand and offer of our excellence.
    "Through events, workshops and business fora, also thanks to the involvement of associations and representatives of categories, we aim to support the internationalization of small and medium-sized Italian firms and to boost exports in sectors in which Made in Italy has always been recognized, like the food industry, fashion and wooden furniture, as well as innovative ones like design, aerospace, life sciences, the energy transition and artificial intelligence", he noted.
    Expo 2025 Osaka will provide the most important opportunity in the years to come to promote and develop exports of Italian companies in the strategic Asia-Pacific area which is filled with young and expanding markets.
    It will be an unmissable occasion to showcase Italy's state of the art: from design to the food industry, from fashion to technology, from infrastructure to urban planning and energy, from science to industry, with an in-depth look at aerospace, robotics, life sciences, high technology, the pharmaceutical and biomedical sectors.
    The General Commissariat for Italy at Expo 2025 Osaka has already signed institutional and cooperation agreements with Confindustria, Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, Sace, Simest, Fondazione Altagamma, Assolombarda, Confederazione Aepi, Unindustria, Federlazio, Ance, and Confapi.
    Liguria, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Marche and Emilia Romagna are the first Italian regions to have signed agreements of participation in the Italian pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka and accords with other Italian regions are being finalized. (ANSA).