Good morning everyone. 
I also wish to greet Mayor [of Milan] Giuseppe Sala, President of the Lombardy Region Attilio Fontana, the hosts who came before me, the Chairman of ‘Fondazione Fiera Milano’, the President of the Salone del Mobile, the President of Federlegno Arredo [Italian federation of wood, cork, furniture, lighting and furnishing industries] and the real protagonists of this event: the exhibitors who, once again this year, will be telling the world about Italian excellence.
I could not miss this edition of the Salone del Mobile (with my somewhat ‘non-institutional’ outfit; after all, only [Minister of Tourism] Santanchè is brave enough to come wearing heels, everyone else knows what awaits them, you’ll have to forgive me), my first as President of the Council of Ministers.
I could not miss it, not only because this event represents such an extraordinary showcase at international level, thanks to its continuity and thanks also to its history, but also because this event brings together some of the main strategic areas this Government intends to work on.

Firstly, the world of enterprises, which are the only real creators of wealth, together with their workers, and the State, any State that wants to have resources to redistribute, must encourage and support the creation of that wealth. We are trying to do this, because an ecosystem is needed that is favourable for the world of production: fair taxes, an efficient justice system, and bureaucracy that serves citizens rather than expecting citizens to be at its service. The first of these reforms is already on the table: the tax reform enabling law. With this enabling law, we are setting ourselves the objective of easing the tax burden, also paying attention to businesses and the world of work, because one of the aims of the tax reform enabling law is to lower IRES [corporate income tax], provided that the relative savings are then invested in innovation or new jobs. In fact, the other major element this event encompasses is work. 
We are in a time when increases in production do not always correspond to rises in employment. We are living in a world where the mechanisation of processes, delocalisation and many phenomena that have to do with modernity often lead to production increases without corresponding rises in employment. 
However, here we have companies whose manufacturing activities have a high ratio of labour in relation to turnover, and this is what we must incentivise. The Government’s objective “the more you hire, the less you pay”, (i.e., the higher the ratio of labour in relation to turnover, the fewer taxes you owe to the State) is therefore a way to foster employment, because work is not only the basis, the foundation, of our Republic, it is also what allows every citizen to contribute to the growth of their community, it is what guarantees dignity more than anything else, it is the best and only real ‘social shock absorber’ and our ladder for people’s growth.
I will not resign myself to a society in which our reference model is to favour the ‘reddito di cittadinanza’  [‘citizenship income’] allowance; I want a society in which our reference model is how to guarantee and foster employment, and this is what the Government continues to work on. How?
At the Salone del Mobile, there is another element that is crucial in our economy: the [Made in Italy] brand, excellence.
At a time of globalisation, Italy cannot set itself the goal of competing on the quantity of what it produces, but there is something that the rest of the world cannot compete with Italy on and that is the quality of what we produce; our brand is the most precious thing we have, as long as we are able to defend and enhance it.
With the Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy, we will be bringing a budget annex to the Council of Ministers in the coming weeks, the very aim of which is to enhance our brand. This is, in fact, a sort of framework law to value and enhance our products of excellence, focusing on three pillars: the relentless fight against counterfeiting and unfair competition, so with protection of patents and trademarks; financial instruments to help small and medium-sized enterprises grow, especially in ‘sectors of excellence’; and, as was mentioned just now, training and expertise.

You see, I believe this nation needs a cultural revolution to give Italian creative work central importance. We have a desperate need to strengthen the skills that are lacking and align labour supply and demand. We cannot accept that, as we continue to wrangle over the ‘reddito di cittadinanza’ allowance, companies are declaring that, in four out of ten cases, they have difficulty finding skilled labour for jobs that are very well paid. We need to work on realigning those skills and so, yes, the challenge of a ‘Made in Italy’ high school, i.e., of a cultural revolution able to express how much our identity is also linked to the sectors connected to our brand, which has been somewhat looked down upon by some, in my opinion is actually one of the solutions to this problem. The same goes for the ITS [‘Istituti Tecnici Superiori’ - higher technical institutes], as mentioned in the speeches before me, which we believe must evolve and increasingly focus on digital technologies. We must then encourage the transfer of knowledge and expertise from those nearing retirement age to the new generations, who can add innovation to that knowledge and to that continuity, because there are another two major challenges at this Salone that are challenges of our time: the issue of innovation in relation to tradition and the issue of sustainability.
This is another major issue that I will talk about quickly, because sustainability is a very salient issue for the wood and furniture supply chain. In Italy, our forest heritage is only minimally used in relation to its annual growth. In several cases, our producers are not able to use these resources because there is a lack of forest strategy, due to the usual red tape, and it happens that in many cases wood is purchased abroad. I believe that more can be done on this too, which is why we are working with the Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry to define a framework that can make the sector independent, that can make it independent by combining environmental sustainability and economic sustainability. It is a long process but the objective is clear: we want to aim for a wood-furniture supply chain that is 100% Made in Italy. We are already working on these goals. In addition to all this, there is the Made in Italy fund, already established with the budget law, and the measures included in the ‘Transition 4.0’ plan, among which I wish to recall the tax credit for design and aesthetic conception activities.
Above all, and I will now come to a close, there is the matter of identity, because there is a piece of Italian identity in the products we see on display at this Salone, but what is being represented here has also become a part of people’s individual identities, and this is increasingly the case. Before the pandemic, before smart working, before the internet, before live streams and video links, our homes were our private sphere, our refuge; today, they are something more. Today they say something about our identity, about our way of presenting ourselves to the world. Today, we ‘wear’ our living spaces just like we wear an outfit. That ability to express identity, to express character, to define ourselves, makes what we see here a key element of people’s well-being. Well-being starts with beauty, and health starts with well-being. What we have here is part of our health and well-being. 
Thank you and I wish you all the best with your work.

[Courtesy translation]