Cultural barriers can be removed chiefly through cultural exchanges, said Zhang Jianda, counsellor at the Chinese Embassy in Rome. "It is the best way for different peoples to get to know each other. Fashion, culture, sports and Made-in-Italy products have become part of everyday life in China's largest cities; the volume of cultural exchanges over the last 10 years has grown exponentially.
  Approximately 60 Chinese delegations come to Italy every year.
  And Milan is a great opportunity to showcase China's corporate system," he explained. Emmanuele Emanuele, president of the Fondazione Terzo Pilastro, said: "Today we have no Mediterranean policy just as we don't have a policy for the East. Initiatives like this aim at shattering the cultural barriers that divide people and with our Foundation we are promoting a conference on the Mediterranean, scheduled to take place in Morocco next year, as well as other events associated with Turkey. We think that this is the right approach." At the workshop, Alessandro Pica, the Director General of the Italian news agency AGI focused on the issue of 'connectivity': "Information is closely connected to communication and culture, as it is also connected to the ongoing reality - primarily in Asia. And, within this context, given the boom in new technology platforms, journalism and the world of information in general, has radically changed, following new paths." He continued: "Today there is an overload of news, of breaking news. In and of themselves, technology platforms are neither good nor bad but, if poorly used, they risk putting at risk good content and stifling creativity. Only by combining technology and content is it possible to achieve excellent results." Mr Pica added: "Six years ago we realised that we needed to become global players through an internationalisation strategy to increasingly support Italy's corporate system. We are convinced that Man must again become the centre of the service and technology platform. We host journalists from partner media companies with the aim of getting to know them, establishing relations and designing work strategies. The word 'connect', the theme of the session, derives from the Latin and means interweave, inter-relate. This is our job and that's what we've also been doing these last two days." (AGI)