As introduced just now, I am Teruhiko Mashiko, Senior Vice Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry.

I would like to thank U.S. Ambassador John V. Roos from the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo and private-sector experts from both countries for attending this meeting today. My gratitude also goes to U.S. government officials, especially those at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, for their great deal of cooperation on the arrangements for this meeting. I wish to make a few remarks on behalf of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

I am very delighted that we are initiating the U.S.-Japan Dialogue to Promote Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Job Creation today under cooperation between the new administrations on both Japan and the U.S.

Just after taking office last year, I attended a gathering of the Global Services Summit in Washington, and exchanged views with leaders from many fields, such as U.S. Senators. This experience has made me acutely aware of the need to strengthen Japan-U.S. economic relations. In this context, I fully recognize the importance of today’s meeting.

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan and the U.S. Department of State jointly carried out the U.S.-Japan Investment Initiative from 2001 to last year. I hear that under this framework aimed at promoting bilateral investment and opposing investment protectionism, both governments held meetings to foster the improvement of the environment for foreign direct investment and conducted publicity activities by holding investment promotion seminars and symposia. I understand that our activities under the Investment Initiative bore some fruit over these years.

However, the economic situation has been tough for both governments since last year, when the Obama administration inaugurated in the U.S. in January and the Hatoyama administration in Japan in September. Both administrations struggled in the midst of the financial and economic crisis triggered by the "Lehman shock" in the autumn before last; then as the economy began to recover and many countries began to search for an exit strategy, the Greece debt crisis occurred, causing turmoil in Europe. I believe that in this challenging situation, both Japan and the U.S. are expected to look for new economic growth models and support the world economy.

There are two keywords that we should focus on when discussing the direction of future Japan-U.S. economic cooperation in this situation. One is Japan-U.S. partnership as a key axis of the world economy. Another is cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region, which is more important as the world’s growth center than ever after the recent series of turbulent events. Japan and the U.S. are expected to join forces to build a constructive and future-oriented mechanism whereby the full potential of not only the two countries but also the whole Asia-Pacific region can be exploited.

This will no doubt be a step toward building the East Asian Community scheme advocated by Prime Minister Hatoyama.

Japan and the U.S. are the two major innovators in the world. Both have economic strength and technology seeds. What the two countries should do is organically combine these two elements, which may not have been linked as closely as they should be, in order to develop a mechanism whereby the potential of Japan and the U.S. can be fully exploited in areas such as innovation and entrepreneurship. If this becomes a reality, both countries will be able to increase their growth potential and eventually boost employment, which is an urgent issue for both.

The ripple effect may even spread to third countries. There is a great possibility that the two countries’ potential capacity may be connected with emerging countries’ potential. In particular, China, India and some other Asia-Pacific countries that act as the region’s growth centers, as I mentioned before, are prospective areas where Japan-U.S. cooperation should be extended with respect to innovation and entrepreneurship.

We have just started an important two years for the two countries: Japan is acting as the APEC chair this year, and the U.S. will take on this role in 2011. What we can expect from the effort to promote innovation and entrepreneurship is not limited to the deepening of Japan-U.S. economic partnership. Its effect will spread to other APEC members under the initiative of Japan and the U.S. APEC is formulating a growth strategy to propose at the Economic Leader’s Meeting in November in Yokohama this year. One of its pillars is growth based on innovation and knowledge, which is a concept close to ours. I hope that we will be able to provide useful input to APEC and contribute to specific discussions on its growth strategy.

Ambassador Roos, who is here on behalf of the U.S. government, assisted many ventures and entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley during his years at a law firm in California. He helped these ventures and entrepreneurs expand their business by providing them with management know-how as well as advice on patent acquisition and effective fund-raising. Soon after taking office, Mr. Roos began advocating the need for Japan-U.S. cooperation in this field. I feel that the launch of the present dialogue reflects his strong enthusiasm for this issue. I am sure that we will be able to hear valuable advice from Ambassador Roos as we work on this initiative.

The Hatoyoma administration believes that Japan’s future economic growth should not be solely driven by the growth of large companies. Fostering innovation, entrepreneurship and ventures is essential to creating new industries, stimulating the economy and increasing employment.

The Japanese government’s basic policy for the “New Growth Strategy” was approved by the Cabinet and announced in December last year. In line with this basic policy, the text of the Strategy is being prepared, with finalization expected next month. The New Growth Strategy will spell out “green innovation” and “life innovation” as strategic innovation that will act as the key to solving challenges for people’s lives, such as global warming and the aging society with a falling birthrate, and stipulate that the government should support the development of human resources and technologies in these fields. Given this government policy, I find today’s dialogue exactly what Japan needs for the pursuit of this goal.

"Supporting Asia’s growth and seeking growth with Asia" is a primary pillar of Japan’s growth strategy. To make Asia’s growth sustainable, Japan and the U.S. should cooperate with Asian countries in the energy and environment fields.

Innovation is vital for both Japan and the U.S. to continue to thrive as economic superpowers. Special attention should be paid in the field of clean technology, including environmental and energy technologies, since this is where industries are expected to grow and where Japan has technological strength. I hope that bilateral alliance will advance in this field.

For all these reasons, I believe today’s dialogue is taking place in a very timely manner. I hope it will yield meaningful results as both administrations’ key policy.

In concluding my remarks, I wish to express my gratitude again to Ambassador Roos and all the private-sector attendees.