Now that the United States has started showing signs of economic slowdown, business leaders in the Asia-Pacific region expect Japan to expedite full economic recovery and become an engine to ensure continued prosperity in the region, according to an American international business expert.
Healthy economic growth in Japan and the U.S. would reinforce Asia's economic recovery from the region's 1997 financial crisis, said Robert Lees, secretary general of the Pacific Basin Economic Council, an international business organization founded in 1967.
Japan must accelerate deregulation to nurture entrepreneurs and promote structural reforms, reduce government debt and become less dependent on public projects, Lee said at a recent interview in Tokyo.