Made in Italy

From defence to agritech, with the Amerigo Vespucci Italy makes a system in Tokyo

Focus on the underwater world at Villaggio Italia, set up in the city harbour

28 August 2024

3' min read

Key points

A sector with great potential
Agreement in view of Osaka 2025
Initiative numbers

3' min read

The stop in Tokyo of the Amerigo Vespucci ship - which landed in the city's port last Sunday - confirms its central role in strengthening relations between Italy and Japan not only economically, but also politically and strategically.

Within the Italian Village - the travelling exhibition of Italian excellence initiated by the Ministry of Defence and supported by ten other ministries - yesterday was in fact the day of the submarine world, a sector little known to the general public but with great potential, which includes infrastructure, mineral resources, renewable energy, underwater tourism, biotechnology and underwater agriculture, together with growing implications for defence and security.

A sector with great potential

The strategic relevance and development potential of the submarine world, in the context of cooperation between Italy and Japan, were the focus of an international conference organised in Tokyo by the Italian Navy and the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, at which speakers included the Navy's Deputy Chief of Staff, Admiral Giuseppe Berutti Bergotto, and the Chief of Staff of the Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force, Admiral Akira Saito, as well as the President of the Sasakawa Foundation, Atsushi Sunami. The conference was also attended by a number of industry experts, including Carlo Festucci, Secretary General of AIAD and Andrea Tomao, Vice President, Defence Institutional Affairs at Fincantieri.

Yesterday, Defence Minister Guido Crosetto, who was in Tokyo for the occasion, met with his Japanese colleague Kihara Minoru to discuss bilateral cooperation, which has become a strategic partnership. The two politicians reaffirmed 'their commitment to GCap (Global combat air programme, the programme promoted by Italy, the United Kingdom and Japan to develop a new generation air system by 2035) and security in the Indo-Pacific', as communicated on social X by the ministry.

Agreement in view of Osaka 2025

Yesterday was also an important day for trade relations between Italy and Japan, thanks to the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Commissariat General for Italy at Expo2025, Osaka and the Ice Agency to strengthen Italian exports and promote business opportunities for Italian companies during the Universal Exhibition in Osaka. In fact, the agreement aims to promote the participation of the Italian entrepreneurial system in Expo 2025, with particular attention to SMEs.

The Italy Village itself is, after all, a sort of dress rehearsal for Expo 2025, as explained by Luca Andreoli, CEO of Difesa Servizi, the in-house company of the ministry that managed the initiative together with the Ninetynine agency. The first stage in Los Angeles registered 72 thousand visitors in six days (from 3 to 8 July), through a schedule of over 30 events and 140 hours of shows. More than 42 thousand visitors climbed aboard the Vespucci, while the contents shared on social channels obtained more than 97 million views with 20 million interactions, while 36 thousand were the contributions generated worldwide by Net users.

The numbers of the initiative

Numbers that the Tokyo stage (with 22,500 square metres of exhibition space compared to 12,000 in Los Angeles) aims to exceed. Among the Made in Italy sectors promoted, thanks to numerous agreements with public and private partners, are agri-food, tourism, the environment, space econonomy, culture, art, design, music and entertainment.

After Tokyo, the Italy Village will be in Darwin in Australia from 4 to 7 October, in Singapore from 24 to 28 October, in Mumbai in India from 28 November to 2 December, in Doha in Qatar from 18 to 21 December, in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates from 23 to 26 December and in Jeddah in Saudi Arabia from 20 to 24 January next year.