Italian Industry Minister Carlo Calenda talks during an interview with Reuters in his office in Rome, Italy November 25, 2016. REUTERS/Tony Gentile

BERLIN (Reuters) - Italian Industry Minister Carlo Calenda said on Wednesday that boosting investment would help western democracies counteract growing populism.

Speaking at a conference hosted by the German Economy Ministry in Berlin, Calenda also said Europe needed to come up with a system that would protect against unfair trade.

He said it was necessary to set up a system to protect against takeovers from countries that are not market economies and to expand free trade agreements in a balanced way.