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Press Conference by Minister Nishimura (Excerpt)

*Note: This is a provisional translation for reference purposes only.

 

10:10-10:27 a.m.
Friday, June 2, 2023
Press Conference Room, METI Main Building

Opening Remarks

Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI)

I would like to mention four points.
First, to strengthen support for companies trying to advance into overseas business, a ministerial order to partially amend the Ordinance for Enforcement of the International Trade and Investment Insurance Act was promulgated today, and is scheduled to be put into effect on July 1.
When domestic companies want to receive loans necessary for business abroad from domestic financial institutions, Nippon Export and Investment Insurance, or NEXI, covers the risks involved with the loans so that companies can smoothly secure the funding.
Specifically, NEXI will start providing products to cover the risks from July 1 with regard to the three important areas that were indicated recently by the G7 and the Industrial Structure Council, namely the strengthening of supply chains, the decarbonization initiative, and startups’ business expansion abroad. In particular, we assume that this scheme will be applied to a broad range of businesses abroad related to the procurement of resources such as critical minerals and LNG, and the building of a hydrogen supply chain in Asia.
We hope that domestic companies, including startups, will use this scheme to advance into overseas businesses while addressing those challenges.
Later, the administrative staff will give you a briefing.

Headquarters for Medical Digital Transformation (DX) Promotion

Earlier, the second meeting of the Headquarters for Medical DX Promotion was held at the Prime Minister’s Office with Prime Minister Kishida in attendance.
I pointed out the importance of developing an environment that enables the people to safely and comfortably use PHR, or personal health records, in accordance with their own needs. I also mentioned plans to develop use cases in which so-called lifelog data, such as the daily number of steps walked and sleeping hours, are used for health-related services, including diagnosis and treatment at medical facilities and fitness exercise, and to promote standardization and rulemaking in order to ensure appropriate data usage.
More specifically, we will implement a new demonstration project to develop use cases, for which we have secured budget funds. We are also considering using PHR to provide new experiences at the Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai.
To promote this initiative, we plan to establish a PHR Service Business Association next month. We would like to promote standardization and rulemaking while supporting the association’s activities.
METI will contribute to lengthening healthy lifespans through the promotion of medical DX. As we also hope that various new services will be created, we are looking forward to participation by many companies.

Visit to Ishikawa Prefecture

Third, tomorrow, June 3, I will visit Ishikawa Prefecture.
As the Hokuriku region of Japan has a cluster of “monozukuri” manufacturing companies, I would like to visit major monozukuri companies near Kanazawa City. I will observe a company that manufactures conveyers for rolling-table sushi restaurants in Hakusan City and a company that manufactures aircraft engine parts in Kahoku City.
Later, I will move to Suzu City in the Noto Peninsula, which was struck by an earthquake last month, and visit affected small and medium-sized enterprises that distill shochu spirits and manufacture shichirin cooking stoves.
At the end of my itinerary, Suzu’s Mayor Izumiya is scheduled to guide me through a museum of Suzu pottery, the region’s specialty product.

Policy Package for Distribution Network Reform

Finally, earlier today, the second Ministerial Meeting on Japan’s Distribution Network Reform was held at the Prime Minister’s Office with Prime Minister Kishida in attendance. The meeting determined a policy package for distribution network reform.
The so-called 2024 problem in the distribution sector, impending next year, is posing an urgent challenge. As restrictions on working hours will be introduced, there are worries about a possible lack of transport capacity. To resolve this problem, we are promoting an initiative to raise the truck loading rate to 50% from the current rate of slightly less than 40%, specifically 38%. This means that trucks are currently moving with 60% of their capacity unused on average, so increasing the loading rate will make a substantial improvement. Also, each truck run apparently involves three hours of waiting and loading/unloading work, so it has become necessary to reduce that duration by over an hour. We will promote these initiatives to deal with the 2024 problem.
As part of this package, we aim to submit to the next ordinary session of the Diet a bill to introduce regulatory measures targeted at consignor companies and distribution business operators in order to ensure optimization of distribution networks and productivity improvement, but those measures cannot be prepared by 2024. Therefore, before submitting the bill related to the introduction of regulatory measures, METI has formulated guidelines for actions that should be promptly taken by cargo senders or consignors and receivers or consignees as well as distribution business operators.
The guidelines indicate specific actions, which will be later explained by the administrative staff, such as correcting business practices that impose a burden on distribution networks and optimizing contract terms. It is particularly important to shorten waiting and loading/unloading hours, as I mentioned earlier. Therefore, we will first request consignor and consignee companies to identify how much time is spent on waiting and loading/unloading work and to reduce the duration by more than an hour down to less than two hours as the first step and, after that has been achieved, to make further efforts to reduce the duration toward the goal of less than one hour.
We will also request industry associations and groups of companies to prepare and publish, by the end of this year, voluntary action plans for improving distribution networks taking into consideration the characteristics of industries and sectors.
For example, the loading/unloading work for bulk cargo may take two or three hours, but it may be finished 20 or 30 minutes earlier if standard pallets and a forklift are used. The waiting time can also be significantly reduced if a berth reservation system is introduced. Therefore, we will actively support these initiatives.
In the medium to long term, we will promote the so-called physical internet initiative, which refers to the creation of something like the internet in the distribution sector. As I mentioned earlier, trucks are moving with a substantial portion of their capacity unused, and there are also empty spaces in warehouses. This initiative will enable common transportation and distribution across the borders of industries. We will promote standardization, digitalization and platform development toward creating a system in which information is coordinated by AI under an internet-like platform.
In any case, amid concerns voiced over a future labor shortage, it is necessary for consignor and consignee companies to change their mindset and correct conventional business practices in order to maintain distribution networks, which are critical social infrastructure supporting people’s everyday lives and economic activity. We hope that consignor and consignee companies will understand this concept and comply with the guidelines.
Later, the administrative staff will give you a briefing.
Of course, we are considering promoting various other initiatives, including developing an automated distribution system using robots and creating drone transportation routes. We would appreciate your understanding.

Last updated:2023-06-02