The Round Table for Infrastructure Systems Export Compiles Final Report

1. Background to convening the round table and the purpose

Aiming to support Japanese companies in exporting infrastructure systems, the government inaugurated a Management Council for Infrastructure Strategy in 2013 and formulated the Export Strategy for Infrastructure Systems. Since then, it has held repeated discussions on a variety of subjects, such as target regions and types of infrastructure.

Taking into consideration that the target year of the strategy is 2020, the government has been holding discussions since February 2020 on formulation of a new strategy for export of infrastructure systems from 2021. In these discussions, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) considers it important to further encourage export of infrastructure systems, taking into account the market environments surrounding Japanese companies, global-level challenges and other social situations.

Bearing this challenge in mind, METI set up the Round Table for Infrastructure Systems Export and held six meetings thereof with representatives of industrial players and domestic and overseas experts, aiming to verify facts on exports of infrastructure systems that are considered necessary in discussing related measures and hold discussions based on these findings towards streamlining future infrastructure exports.

2. Meeting results and final report on discussion results

Focusing on the subject of “energy” for the first round of meetings, the round table held two meetings to streamlining and verification of facts on exports of infrastructure systems that are considered necessary in discussing related measures, taking into account the social situations surrounding the fields of energy and electricity and it compiled the discussion results into an interim report on May 21 (Thur.), 2020.

Focusing on the subject of “digital technologies” for the second round of meetings, it held three meetings from July to October 2020 to ascertain changes in tides of digital business and current trends thereof and to hold discussions on future directions of response actions, related measures and other issues.

Following the results of these discussions, the round table held its sixth, final meeting on November 13 (Fri.), 2020, and, based on the discussions in the first and second rounds of meetings, the members of the round table held discussions to compile a final report concerning challenges that both the public and private sectors should tackle in advancing export of infrastructure systems in the future.

Against this backdrop, the round table compiled the discussion results at the sixth meeting into the final report. METI hereby releases the report.

• Final report: Summary(PDF:635KB)
• Final report: Full text (in Japanese)(PDF:646KB)

In light of the final report, METI will contribute to the new strategy for the global deployment of infrastructure systems that the Management Council for Infrastructure Strategy has been formulating.

3. Members of the round table (names are arranged in the order of the Japanese syllabary)

First round of meetings:

・Oka Toshiko, President, Oka & Company Corporation
・Onoda Satoshi, President, JERA Co., Inc.
・Kudo Teiko, Senior Managing Executive Officer, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation
・Takeuchi Sumiko, Director, International Environment and Economy Institute
* Toyoda Masakazu, Chairman and CEO, the Institute of Energy Economics, Japan (chairperson of the round table)
・Yamaji Kenji, Senior Vice President and Director General, Research Institute of Innovative Technology for the Earth

Second round of meetings:

・Ito Asei, Associate Professor, Institute of Social Science, University of Tokyo
・Iwasaki Kaori, Senior Economist, Economics Department, the Japan Research Institute, Limited
・Oka Toshiko, President, Oka & Company Corporation
・Kudo Teiko, Senior Managing Executive Officer, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation
・Sonoda Katsuichi, Senior Vice President and Head of Strategic Business Development, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation
* Toyoda Masakazu, Chairman and CEO, the Institute of Energy Economics, Japan (chairperson of the round table)
・Hirakuri Takuya, General Manager, Digital Strategy Department, Mitsubishi Corporation
・Miyata Hiroaki, Professor, Health Policy and Management, School of Medicine, Keio University

Observers:

・Cabinet Secretariat
・Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications
・Ministry of Foreign Affairs
・Ministry of Finance
・Financial Services Agency
・Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
・Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism
・Ministry of the Environment

Links to related information

• Reference to the Round Table for Infrastructure Systems Export (in Japanese)
• The Round Table for Infrastructure Systems Export Compiles Interim Report (Electricity and Energy) (press release on May 21, 2020)

Division in Charge

Trade Promotion Division, Trade and Economic Cooperation Bureau