-Week dedicated to food-agriculture inaugurated at Italy Pavilion-

OSAKA, June 9, 2025/ANSA=Kyodo JBN/ --

The institutional mission of Minister Francesco Lollobrigida and of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forests (MASAF) has started at the Italy Pavilion of Expo 2025 Osaka.

The moment is precious to reiterate the centrality of the entire agritech sector in rethinking societies of the future, the key theme at Expo Osaka, and to inaugurate the thematic week 'Necessities of Life: Food, Clothing and Shelter Week'.

For the occasion, the Italy Pavilion has updated the image of its Piazza, inaugurating a series of biological vegetable gardens: a temporary installation able to capture the attention on the themes of food and sustainability.

After the ribbon-cutting ceremony, which was attended by the Commissioner General for Italy at Expo 2025 Osaka, Mario Vattani, by the Secretary General of Expo 2025 Osaka, Ishige Hiroyuki, and by Italy’s Ambassador to Japan, Gianluigi Benedetti, the mission continued inside the Italy Pavilion, with a special immersive video produced by MASAF which will be part of the visitors’ experience throughout the thematic week.

“Japan is a friendly country that appreciates our products, our lifestyle and our cuisine”, stated Lollobrigida, adding that he is “proud of being able to display the excellencies that make the Italian agrifood system great and the avant-garde tools developed by our Agritech sector”.

With this exhibition, in fact, “an increasing number of people will have the opportunity of knowing how Italy works and this means giving our economy the opportunity of consolidating old markets and of opening new ones”, added the minister.

“With Minister Lollobrigida’s institutional visit, we inaugurate an important week, not only for Expo, but for the future of our societies”, stressed Ambassador Vattani, who also wanted to note how “the presence and the synergic work of important partners like ICE, Veronafiere, Confagricoltura, Filiera Italia, Federvini, Unione Italiana Vini (Italian Wine Union) and CEEV increases the systemic value of a mission that sees the Italy Pavilion as a tool of the diplomacy of growth at the service of the internationalization of our Italian companies”.

After the welcome of the Commissioner General for Italy at Expo 2025 Osaka, speakers included, in addition to Minister Lollobrigida, the President of the foreign trade agency ICE Matteo Zoppas, the President of Veronafiere Federico Bricolo, the President of Confagricoltura Massimiliano Giansanti, the Director of markets and international policies of Coldiretti and CEO of Filiera Italia Luigi Scordamaglia, the President of the Italian Wine Union Lamberto Frescobaldi and Marzia Varvaglione, President of the Comité Européen des Enterprises Vins (CEEV).

Minister Lollobrigida “gave us an important objective which is to bring Italian agrifood from 70 billion euros to 100 billion euros and it is an objective that needs to be reached in the upcoming future”, stated Zoppas.

Although the challenge is significant “it is a trend that must not scare”, added the president of ICE, because “we are progressing at a growth rate in agriculture, including double-digit (growth) in various categories, but especially agrifood is growing a lot, so an additional 30% in a few years can be obtained”.

And in order to reach such a target, concluded Zoppas, “we must be the best possible infrastructure for the true protagonists of Made in Italy – entrepreneurs”.

Source: General Commissioner’s Office of Italy for Expo 2025 Osaka