Engaging ASEAN: Italy-Japan cooperation in Southeast Asia

The research project “Engaging ASEAN: Italy-Japan cooperation in Southeast Asia,” developed by Ce.SI in collaboration with researchers Fusanori Iwasaki and Keita Oikawa, of the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA), and Nguyen Anh Duong, of the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM), aimed to explore how Italy and Japan can be partners in supporting Southeast Asian development . The decision to “look” at how Japan engages in the region stems from two relevant aspects. First, Rome and Tokyo share core values and international alignment, and as evidence of this closeness, they agreed in January 2023 to elevate the relationship to the status of a strategic partnership. Second, Japan has been a privileged partner of ASEAN member states for many years and, for this reason, its ability to develop economic and trade relations, on the one hand, and its role in regional cooperation and development policies, on the other, deserve to be analyzed and, where possible, replicated.

To achieve the above objectives, this report aims to present an analysis of the best practices used by Japan in its cooperation with ASEAN and its member states . These practices are then related to Italian external action in the area, in order to better define, structure and strengthen it. Indeed, the growing global significance of the region and Italy’s willingness to explore new opportunities for economic, trade and political cooperation are at the heart of this research project.