From September 18 to 26, 2025, Legacoop carried out an institutional mission to Japan, organized as part of Emilia-Romagna Week at Expo Osaka 2025 and continuing in Tokyo with visits, workshops, internationalization activities, and networking initiatives promoted by the regional and national cooperative movement.
The mission represented a strategic opportunity to strengthen the long-standing relationships with Japan’s cooperative system, addressing key themes such as sustainable supply chains, welfare, digitalization and energy transition and internationalization strategies.
Among the main events was the organization of the conference “The Mediterranean Diet as a Model for Development”, held in collaboration with the Emilia-Romagna Region and Legacoop Agroalimentare. The conference featured the presentation of the Cooperative Manifesto of the Mediterranean Diet, which promotes the diet as a driver of sustainable, inclusive, and locally rooted development — in line with the values of the cooperative movement.
Several leading cooperatives from the regional agri-food sector shared their experiences during the event, including Fruttagel, Deco Industrie, Granterre, Conapi, and Progeo. The delegation also included other enterprises from different sectors: Coop Alleanza 3.0, Coop Reno, Camst, CPL Concordia, Consorzio Nazionale Servizi, Fondazione Barberini, Granlatte-Granarolo, Politecnica, and Terre Cevico.
During Expo Osaka, Legacoop Emilia-Romagna also took part in several high-profile institutional events, including “Emilia-Romagna, Ibaraki Prefecture, and Osaka Prefecture Look to the Future: Development Trajectories in a Rapidly Changing Economic and Social Context.” The presence of CPL Concordia was also significant within the program “Emilia-Romagna: International Hubs for Green Energy.”
The mission continued in Tokyo with a series of workshops and bilateral meetings between the Japanese cooperative movement and the Legacoop system, focusing on shared challenges such as population aging, digitalization, and the transformation of welfare models.
These initiatives were further reinforced by a networking event organized in collaboration with Agenzia ICE, which brought together numerous Japanese business operators, fostering the creation of new contacts and opportunities for economic and project-based cooperation.
The Legacoop mission to Japan included a wide range of internationalization activities that helped promote the Emilia-Romagna cooperative model internationally — particularly in the agri-food, energy, welfare, and services sectors. The events received extensive coverage in local, national, and Japanese media.
Legacoop Emilia-Romagna will continue to strengthen its presence in Japan, supporting the promotion and participation at Foodex Tokyo 2026, where several member cooperatives will exhibit within the ICE collective pavilion.
Read the full report on Legacoop’s mission to Japan: Il bilancio della missione di Legacoop Emilia-Romagna a Expo Osaka 2025 e in Giappone – Cinque Magazine
