Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga brushed aside concerns Friday about the new trade and industry minister's 600-share stake in Tokyo Electric Power Co. and said that the government guidelines in place to protect Cabinet ministers from conflicts of interest would be followed.

Suga said Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry chief Yoichi Miyazawa will soon move the shares to a trust bank and will be unable to trade them while in office.

Miyazawa's stake is worth about ¥200,000, Suga said. Tepco, as the beleaguered utility is known, had a market capitalization of ¥544.8 billion as of Friday afternoon. "There is no problem at all," Suga told reporters.