Staff writer

Japan will propose a package of several projects this week, including its plan to host a "Global Venture Forum" each year, to fight the unemployment problem in the Group of Seven major industrialized economies plus Russia, government officials said Tuesday.

The Japanese proposal will be made at a "Jobs Conference" of ministerial-level officials from the G-7 countries and Russia, which is scheduled for Nov. 28 and 29 in Kobe, the officials said, requesting that they not be named. The G-7 comprises the U.S., Canada, Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Japan. With Russia's increased participation in June at the annual G-7 summit in Denver, Colorado, the group is now being referred to as the Group of Eight.

The two-day conference will be jointly chaired by Labor Minister Bunmei Ibuki and Minister of International Trade and Industry Mitsuo Horiuchi. Among other participants will be Michel Hansenne, director general of the International Labor Organization, and Donald Johnston, secretary general of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Participants in the meeting are expected to agree on the need for further structural reform of their economies to improve both the number and quality of employment opportunities.

Among other specific policy objectives, the establishment of an environment conducive to the creation of new enterprises and industries is expected to be high on the agenda. Other plans include the reform of employment and corporate systems as well as the issue of managing a rapidly aging society while maintaining economic vitality.

The package Japan will propose includes a compilation of case studies of each country's successful venture businesses, the officials said. In these studies, the eight would specify measures, such as regulatory reform, financial support and R&D assistance, that contributed to the firms' growth, the officials said. The list will be made available on the Internet, they added.

The package also includes a Japanese proposal to host a Global Venture Forum in Osaka annually, beginning next autumn. This would encourage entrepreneurship in the eight countries and help top executives in venture enterprises expand opportunities, the officials said. The forum would give entrepreneurs or heads of venture enterprises that use innovative technologies or products an opportunity to present business plans and meet potential partners such as sponsors, bankers and venture capitalists, the officials said.