NEW YORK (Kyodo) Economic and fiscal policy minister Heizo Takenaka and Glenn Hubbard, former chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, shared the view Wednesday that the global economy will continue recovering, Japanese government officials said.
At a meeting in New York with Hubbard, now dean of Columbia Business School, Takenaka also expressed his eagerness to move ahead with the privatization of Japan Post, outlining the importance of the plan and explaining the size of the postal savings service, the officials said.
"I will do everything I can until a new minister for postal services is appointed in a Cabinet reshuffle in September," Takenaka was quoted as telling Hubbard.
Takenaka, who doubles as financial services minister, also told Hubbard that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has recommitted himself to further push his structural reforms, which Hubbard praised, especially the financial ones.
Takenaka declined comment on the Tokyo High Court's decision earlier in the day to overturn a lower court order that had frozen merger negotiations between UFJ Holdings Inc. and Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group Inc.