OYAMA, Shizuoka Pref. -- Business leaders should be more involved in accelerating the structural reforms that Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto's government is currently trying to implement, top executives said July 25.
During the second day of the annual summer forum of the Japan Federation of Economic Organizations (Keidanren), business leaders discussed ways of promoting structural reforms, including administrative and financial reforms. Tadahiro Sekimoto, chairman of NEC Corp., said that although various government committees have announced blueprints of those reforms, ways to implement them in detail have not been worked out.
"Since we have better ideas about the conditions (surrounding the nation's economy and society), business groups are the ones that can take the initiative," he said. Katsunosuke Maeda, chairman of Toray Industries, Inc., said that to have successful reforms, the nation's economic conditions must be watched carefully, and that businesspeople can play an important role in sustaining the nation's economic growth. "Business leaders in each industry should have this aspect in mind to keep the nation's economy going," Maeda said.