Berlin (Germany), 15 November (LaPresse) – Germany ‘owes respect and gratitude’ to the Italians who arrived in the country from the 1950s onwards. This was stated by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in his speech at Bellevue Palace during the Presidents' Award ceremony with Sergio Mattarella. Recalling the 70th anniversary of the 1955 bilateral agreement for the recruitment of Italian workers, Steinmeier said that it was ‘an agreement that marked the lives of hundreds of thousands of people’. “With their often hard work, these people made a decisive contribution to Germany's economic development,” said the president, recalling that many came from southern Italy, “the homeland of President Mattarella”. Steinmeier emphasised that many Italian immigrants were ‘pioneers’ of the first partnerships between Italian and German cities. He added that recognition of their role ‘came too late’: many faced prejudice, daily difficulties and harsh conditions. ‘I want to make it clear: even our success story has a migrant background,’ said the president. ‘The immigrants who came to our country have done us good, not least because they have helped us to become, as a society, a little more Italian.’ Steinmeier concluded by quoting an Italian proverb: ‘Chi trova un amico, trova un tesoro’ (Whoever finds a friend finds a treasure). ‘How fortunate that our two countries can share this treasure – and that it continues to grow,’ he said.