The Italian Ministry of Economic Development has had the pleasure of accepting an invitation from our German friends for Italy to act as "Partner Country" in the 2010 Hannover Messe, the most important industrial event in the world.

This invitation bears witness to the role of our companies in the German market, and the efficiency of the activities which we have performed in recent years regarding bilateral economic relationships. Italy has traditionally been Germany's top commercial partner, and also the most important exporter country to host a stand in the main German trade fair events, while Italian participation in the Hannover Trade Fair has always been particularly numerous.

However, this invitation also represents an important recognition of the vitality and dynamism of our economic system, considering the fundamental theme chosen for this year's partnership: sustainable mobility, a very current theme on both a technical-engineering and an environmental and social level.

Economic development requires the production and use of large volumes of energy, with the consequent necessity of reducing environmental impact and preventing irreversible climate change. This represents both a challenge and an opportunity to revolutionise the use we currently make of available resources, designing technology which is ever more compatible with the environment and orientating our economic systems towards a new concept of development.

Italy and Germany can provide an example for Europe of how renewable energy can be capable of relaunching the economy and revitalising the employment market.

The new technological frontiers of the green economy will bring ever more advanced products and services, in which the ingeniousness and flexibility of Italian companies will be shown at their best.

The Italy Pavilion organised by the Italian Institute for Foreign Trade (ICE), to be opened by the Italian President of the Council of Ministers together with the German Chancellor, will allow visitors to discover innovation and excellence in the themes of energy efficiency and yield, the reduction of acoustic impact and the use of sustainable fuel.

The Seminars organised by the Institute, together with the numerous collateral networking and economic and cultural initiatives, will offer Italian businessmen the opportunity to establish or consolidate collaborations with German companies, while meeting journalists and opinion makers capable of providing in-depth information on the current economic situation and future development of Germany and the other countries represented at the Hannover Messe 2010.

I would like to wish the event every success and extend my most heartfelt thanks to the Italian Institute for Foreign Trade and to all those - businessmen, architects, curators and artists - who have contributed, under the Institute's constant coordination, to creating this extraordinary event, an international showcase for our industrial production.

Mr. Claudio Scajola
Minister for Economic Development