An informal government panel basically agreed Thursday to seek improvements to Japan's immigration and social environments to attract more experts and engineers from Southeast Asia, the panel's chairman said.
The panel for devising a comprehensive economic partnership vision between Japan and members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations aims to compile a report in October for Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's reference before he meets his ASEAN counterparts Nov. 4 and 5, Takashi Shiraishi told a news conference.
The group, consisting of eight academic experts in Asian studies, agreed Japan should seek broad economic integration with ASEAN to improve its own society to lure foreign experts, said Shiraishi, a professor at the Kyoto University Center for Southeast Asian Studies.