Following is the gist of remarks made by Mr. Takashi Imai, Chairman, Keidanren, on the scheduled press conference following Keidanren's annual General Assembly on 25 May 2000. Translation is rush and tentative, and sequence of the gist does not necessarily coincide with words delivered.
Regarding recent stock price plunge, I believe there are two reasons. One is because Nikkei altered 30 of 225 companies of the composite. The other is the spill over effect of high-tech stock plunge in the U. S. as the result of overheating.
When I took over Keidanren chairmanship two years ago, the state of Japanese economy was in devastation. I pushed the government to carry on a variety of reforms to put the Japanese businesses on the par with global competitors on business climate. As the result, the businesses now can stand on their own feet.
Mr. Mori has done a good job to replace his predecessor. However, as a man in the post of prime ministership, he must be careful on his wording. Even though the context of his entire speech was adequate, the statement "Japan is divine" was inadequate.