KYOTO -- The Kansai region should draw up concrete plans to promote decentralization of administrative power, business leaders attending the 36th Kansai Zaikai Seminar here agreed Friday.
"Decentralization has been discussed for a decade, but no progress has been made. We've got to take the initiative as the front-runner for decentralization," said Yoshikuni Inoue, special adviser to Daikin Industries Ltd., who chaired a session discussing structural reform.
Yoshihisa Akiyama, president of Kansai Electric Power Co., said concrete plans to boost decentralization should be proposed so some municipalities can practice a decentralized administration system. "Local governments should learn consumers' needs and introduce a corporate accounting system, while private companies could send businesspeople to the political world," he said.
Some of the people attending the session said reform of the tax system and computerization are necessary to achieve decentralization.