Outline of the Keynote Personal 2

• Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, ORIX Corporation

The Asia Pacific economy is in the process of transition, including such difficult issues as achieving harmony between development and the environment.
Given this situation, I would like to propose guidelines for Japan to follow, while also touching on current conditions in Asia.

At present, China is demonstrating the highest level of economic growth. Around half the foreign investment in Asia is concentrated in China, which is now called the world's manufacturing plant, as Japan was labeled in the past. China's presence is expected to continue to grow, which is conversely creating concern over the further hollowing out of manufacturing industries in Japan and in other Asian economies.

However, putting economic aspects to one side and examining the domestic political situation in China, Chinese society nurses a large number of factors of instability due to the lack of political liberalization, while China is also, in some ways, an exporter of environmental problems to the world.

Widening our scope to Asia, instability in East Asia is becoming marked. Numerous issues have emerged, among them Indonesian political instability, a change of government in the Philippines, the Malaysian succession issue, and relations between China and Taiwan.

Against this backdrop, I believe that the most critical economic issue for Asia will be for Japan to break out of its protracted recession and move from negative to positive economic growth. To do so, Japan needs to develop a more competitive economic structure, while simultaneously pushing forward with corporate management reform.

Japan also needs to create a solid government structure that can implement policies in harmony with other nations. At the same time, Japan should take the initiative in demonstrating to the world how society can grow together with nature in the true sense of the word by making full use of its sense of social well being and intellectual capital.