Executives' Comments  Press Conferences   Chairman Sakakibara's Statements and Comments
at His Press Conference

July 6, 2015

Greek debt crisis

Greeks expressed their will against austerity measures in the July 5th referendum. This is regrettable, as we had hoped for the issue to make a soft landing, but, considering the size of the Greek economy, its impact on the Japanese economy and the world economy is thought to be limited. However, it is imperative to resolve issues involving Greece at an early stage for the stability of the whole of the European Union, and the spread of influence among other European states must be avoided at all costs. We will pay close attention to how the EU will respond to the matter.

Mission to the United States

From June 28, a Keidanren mission comprising more than 100 members split into three groups visited a total of 14 cities in 10 states in the United States. Group A, which I led, visited Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia and South Carolina. Group B, led by Mr. Iwasa, chairman of the Board of Councillors, visited Texas, Tennessee and California, while Group C, led by Mr. Ishihara, vice chair of Keidanren, visited Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and New Jersey. It was the first time that Keidanren sent such a large mission to the United States. The biggest characteristic of this mission was that it made an effort to strengthen Japan-U.S. economic relations at both the federal and state levels of government.

I lectured on the themes of revitalization of the Japanese economy and Keidanren's efforts toward economic growth as well as the Japan-U.S. economic relationship at various locations, such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, showing specific examples of how Japanese companies are making huge contributions to the U.S. economy by citing various economic statistics including those related to employment and the number of companies doing business in the country. The U.S. side welcomed our mission and expressed strong hopes for the further expansion of Japanese companies' business and investment in the country.

Concerning the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Froman and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Pritzker said that in the TPP negotiations from now on, the roles of the business communities of Japan and the United States are very important in terms of smoothly moving forward the process toward the realization of the TPP. They expressed their hope for the business communities to make efforts toward deepening understanding on the matter both domestically and internationally.

Keidanren was able to complete the mission to the United States successfully. We will continue to work on reinforcing the Japan-U.S. economic relationship through various channels.