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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 12 TOKYO 002276 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR E, P, EB, EAP/J, EAP/P, EAP/PD, PA 
WHITE HOUSE/NSC/NEC; JUSTICE FOR STU CHEMTOB IN ANTI-TRUST 
DIVISION; TREASURY/OASIA/IMI/JAPAN; DEPT PASS USTR/PUBLIC AFFAIRS 
OFFICE; SECDEF FOR JCS-J-5/JAPAN, 
DASD/ISA/EAPR/JAPAN; DEPT PASS ELECTRONICALLY TO USDA 
FAS/ITP FOR SCHROETER; PACOM HONOLULU FOR PUBLIC DIPLOMACY 
ADVISOR; CINCPAC FLT/PA/ COMNAVFORJAPAN/PA. 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OIIP KMDR KPAO PGOV PINR ECON ELAB JA
SUBJECT:  DAILY SUMMARY OF JAPANESE PRESS 04/26/06 
 
 
INDEX: 
 
(1) Poll on Koizumi cabinet, political parties, DPJ President 
Ichiro Ozawa 
 
(2) Poll on Koizumi cabinet's performance over past 5 years 
 
(3) New round of WTO trade talks gives up basic agreement in 
April due to conflicting interests 
 
(4) US force realignment: Lawless says Japan's total share will 
run to 3 trillion yen, while US' will be 460 billion yen 
 
(5) US force realignment (Part 1): Accountability not fulfilled; 
Government's efforts to convince local communities bound to run 
into difficulties 
 
(6) Thoughts on income disparity (Part 2); Deregulation not so 
bad; Economic recovery shoring up income level 
 
(7) Thoughts on income disparity (part 3); Do not set the clock 
back; Continuing reform, economic growth are royal road to 
correcting disparities 
 
(8) Interview with Asian Development Bank Governor Kuroda: 
Compatibility necessary for FTAs, negative effect of rising oil 
prices a worry 
 
ARTICLES: 
 
(1) Poll on Koizumi cabinet, political parties, DPJ President 
Ichiro Ozawa 
 
ASAHI (Page 4) (Full) 
April 25, 2006 
 
Questions & Answers 
(Figures shown in percentage, rounded off. Parentheses denote the 
results of the last survey conducted March 18-19, unless 
otherwise specified.) 
 
Q: Do you support the Koizumi cabinet? 
 
Yes       50       (46) 
No        36       (38) 
 
Q: Why? (One reason only. Left column for those marking "yes" on 
previous question, and right for those saying "no." Brackets 
denote proportion to all respondents.) 
 
The prime minister is Mr. Koizumi            23(11)        5 (2) 
The prime minister is from the Liberal Democratic Party 
                                             17 (8)       10 (3) 
From the aspect of policies                  33(17)       60(22) 
Because of the coalition government           7 (3)       14 (5) 
No particular reason                         18 (9)        9 (3) 
 
Q: What do you think is good or bad about the Koizumi cabinet? 
(One choice each. Left = "good," right = "bad." Parentheses 
denote the results of a survey conducted April 16-17, 2005.) 
 
The prime minister's political stance       20(17)       10(12) 
Administrative, fiscal reforms              23(18)       13(12) 
 
TOKYO 00002276  002 OF 012 
 
 
Economic, employment measures                8 (7)       23(27) 
Foreign, defense policies                    7 (8)       34(27) 
Nothing in particular                       39(46)       17(19) 
 
Q: Which political party do you support now? 
 
Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)                    38       (39) 
Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ or Minshuto)       17       (13) 
New Komeito (NK)                                   3        (3) 
Japanese Communist Party (JCP)                     2        (3) 
Social Democratic Party (SDP or Shaminto)          2        (1) 
People's New Party (PNP or Kokumin Shinto)         0        (0) 
New Party Nippon (NPN or Shinto Nippon)            0        (0) 
Liberal League (LL or Jiyu Rengo)                  0        (0) 
None                                              34       (36) 
No answer + don't know                             4        (5) 
 
Q: The DPJ has elected Ichiro Ozawa as its new president. Do you 
have hopes for the DPJ under his leadership? 
 
Yes       50 
No        43 
 
Q: Is politics more interesting to you with Ozawa becoming DPJ 
head? 
 
Yes       33 
No        62 
 
Polling methodology: The survey was conducted April 22-23 over 
the telephone on a computer-aided random digit dialing (RDD) 
basis. This RDD formula chooses persons for the survey from among 
all eligible voters throughout the nation on a three-sage random- 
sampling basis. Valid answers were obtained from 1,947 persons 
(55% ). 
 
(2) Poll on Koizumi cabinet's performance over past 5 years 
 
ASAHI (Page 4) (Full) 
April 26, 2006 
 
Questions & Answers 
(Figures shown in percentage. Brackets denote proportion to all 
respondents. Parentheses denote the results of the last survey 
conducted March 18-19.) 
 
Q: The Koizumi cabinet has now been in office for nearly five 
years. What's your overall rating of its performance on the whole 
over the past five years? In addition, what's your specific 
rating of the Koizumi cabinet's economic policy, administrative 
reform including postal privatization, social security policy 
including pensions, and foreign policy? Mark its specific 
performance in each policy area out of 10. 
 
Score 
0   1   2    3    4    5    6    7    8   9   10 
Overall rating 
2   1   2    5   12   32   22   14    7   1    1 
Economic policy 
2   1   2    8   14   33   20    9    5   1    2 
Administrative reform 
3   1   3    6   11   21   17   15   13   3    4 
Social security policy 
 
TOKYO 00002276  003 OF 012 
 
 
9   3   6   16   22   26    9    4    2   0    1 
Foreign policy 
7   3   6   14   17   24   12    8    5   1    1 
 
Q: What do you think is Prime Minister Koizumi's appeal? (One 
choice only) 
 
Clear-cut                   22 
Unwavering                  15 
Clean                        6 
Friendly                    19 
Sightly                      6 
Nothing in particular       30 
 
Q: Is politics more interesting to you than five years ago? 
 
Yes       57 
No        39 
 
Q: Then, do you think you are now better off or worse off than 
five years ago? 
 
Better off       18 
Worse off        42 
 
 
Q: (Only for those who answered "better off") Do you think that 
was because of the Koizumi cabinet's policy measures? 
 
Yes       29        (5) 
No        64       (11) 
 
Q: (Only for those who answered "worse off") Do you think that 
was because of the Koizumi cabinet's policy measures? 
 
Yes       43       (18) 
No        45       (19) 
 
Q: Which media is most informative to you about politics? (One 
choice only) 
 
Newspapers       37 
Television       55 
Magazines         1 
Internet          6 
 
 
Q: To what extent do you think your impression of the Koizumi 
cabinet is affected by television? 
 
Very much            22 
Somewhat             55 
Not very much        17 
Not at all            5 
 
Q: Do you have a favorable impression of Prime Minister Koizumi 
when he answers questions in the Diet or press interviews? 
 
Yes       47 
No        40 
 
Q: Who do you think is appropriate for post-Koizumi premiership? 
Pick only one from among those listed below. 
 
TOKYO 00002276  004 OF 012 
 
 
 
Taro Aso                4        (5) 
Shinzo Abe             45       (47) 
Sadakazu Tanigaki       3        (4) 
Yasuo Fukuda           20       (20) 
Other persons          17       (13) 
 
Polling methodology: The survey was conducted April 22-23 over 
the telephone on a computer-aided random digit dialing (RDD) 
basis. This RDD formula chooses persons for the survey from among 
all eligible voters throughout the nation on a three-sage random- 
sampling basis. Valid answers were obtained from 1,947 persons 
(55% ). 
 
(3) New round of WTO trade talks gives up basic agreement in 
April due to conflicting interests 
 
YOMIURI (Page 9) (Full) 
April 26, 2006 
 
World Trade Organization (WTO) Director General Pascal Lamy 
officially decided to give up on the initial goal of reaching 
board agreement on tariff cuts in agriculture and non-agriculture 
areas by the end of this month. With this, the new round of WTO 
trade talks has entered a new phase. WTO member countries are 
still aiming to reach a final agreement by the end of this year, 
but they have their respective reasons for being unable to easily 
make concessions. In future talks, the focus is on how to draw 
out a political judgment that is indispensable for breaking the 
impasse in the ongoing talks. To do so, the countries will need 
to revamp their strategies in preparations for the upcoming major 
international conferences. 
 
By time of World Cup 
 
Lamy said in a press conference on April 24: "The end of July is 
too late. We should finish our homework by the time of the June 
Soccer World Cup." 
 
A decision has already been made not to set a new deadline for 
board agreement. In Geneva as the playing ground of the talks, 
however, one-month summer vacation will start in August. Now that 
the member countries failed to attain the goal of reaching board 
agreement by the end of April, some negotiators see the end of 
July as the new deadline. Lamy's remarks indicated a strong 
desire to recover lost time, with en eye on reaching a global 
trade treaty by the end of this year. 
 
Starting with a meeting of the Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC) 
on May 1, WTO negotiations will be resumed. On thorny farm 
issues, intensive discussions will be conducted for six weeks 
starting from the first week of May. 
 
Respective circumstances 
 
In working-level talks on crucial agricultural issues in April, 
no agreement was reached even on themes that should have been 
taken up in the ministerial meeting (that had been planned but 
was cancelled). 
 
Progress will never be made in farm talks unless the relevant 
cabinet ministers make a political judgment. But each nation has 
been trapped by their respective domestic circumstances. For 
 
TOKYO 00002276  005 OF 012 
 
 
instance, the US in the run-up to off-year elections in November 
finds it difficult to come up with dramatic domestic measures, 
such as a large cut in farm subsidies, reflecting a strong 
protectionist mood in the Congress. 
 
In the Hong Kong ministerial last December, the European Union 
(EU) already played the trump card of scrapping the export 
subsidy system in 2013. It is difficult to ask its member 
nations, including France preoccupied with dealing with riots, to 
make more concessions. 
 
Developing countries are not necessarily unanimous, either. 
Brazil is highly interested in exporting agricultural products, 
but India is a food-importing nation. Their positions are 
somewhat different. 
 
Industrialized countries lowered tariffs to a considerable extent 
in the Uruguay Round, so further market liberalization will 
inevitably bring about "pain." 
 
Meanwhile, developing countries have deep-seated dissatisfaction 
at the widening differences between rich and poor nations. Stormy 
negotiations are predicted, with various motives crisscrossing 
among 150 WTO member economies. 
 
Conference after conference 
 
A number of international conferences will be held from now, 
bringing together leaders and cabinet ministers from 
industrialized countries. A meeting of the Council of the 
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) will 
be held in May, followed by a trade ministerial of the Asia- 
Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in June, and a major 
industrialized countries' summit in July. 
 
The US is saddled with the issue of reducing farm subsidies, 
while the EU and Japan are being pressured to open their markets 
further. The focus of attention is on how far they will be able 
to coordinate domestic views. 
 
Brazil, India and other major developing countries hold the key 
in moving the WTO talks forward. But they have indicated an 
allergen reaction to the negotiation framework led by 
industrialized countries. In the upcoming series of international 
conferences, industrialized countries will be required to promote 
the new round of talks but also do their best to eliminate the 
developing countries' dissatisfaction by skillfully forming a 
mechanism that can reflect their views. 
 
Timetable for WTO talks 
 
May 1 
WTO Trade negotiations Council meeting (Geneva) 
Six weeks of intensive deliberations in farm talks (Geneva) 
 
May 23-24 
OECD Council meeting (Paris) 
 
June 1-2 
APEC Trade Ministerial meeting (Ho Chi Minh) 
 
July 25-17 
Industrialized countries' summit (Saint Petersburg) 
 
TOKYO 00002276  006 OF 012 
 
 
 
End of July 
Deadline for submission of lists of specific tariff rates 
 
Year end 
Deadline for a final agreement 
 
End of June, 2007 
Deadline of the package trade negotiating right given by the 
Congress to the US president. 
 
(4) US force realignment: Lawless says Japan's total share will 
run to 3 trillion yen, while US' will be 460 billion yen 
 
ASAHI (Page 1) (Abridged) 
Evening, April 26, 2006 
 
Yoshiyuki Komurada, Washington 
 
US Deputy Under Secretary of Defense Richard Lawless held a press 
conference at the Pentagon April 25 in which he indicated that 
Japan's share of the cost of the realignment of US forces in 
Japan would run at least to 26 billion dollars, or 2.98 trillion 
yen. As a rough breakdown of the cost, he explained that 20 
billion dollars would be required for the realignment of US 
troops and facilities in Japan, including Okinawa, and 6 billion 
dollars for the relocation of US Marines from Okinawa to Guam. 
Lawless referred to the figures as a "modest estimate." Japan's 
total share may even exceed 3 trillion yen. 
 
Japan is mainly required to bear the cost of realignment of US 
forces in Japan. Lawless is believed to have made the statement 
based on coordination between Japan and the US in the past. 
However, with the basis for the estimate and the detailed 
breakdown remaining unclear, the Japanese government will be 
pressed for an explanation. 
 
Lawless also indicated that the total cost of the realignment of 
US forces in Japan would run to 30 billion dollars, or 3.4 
trillion yen. He also explicitly said that of it, the US share of 
the cost of the Guam relocation would be no more than 4 billion 
dollars (460 billion yen). 
 
Lawless said, "Many obligations for fiscal disbursements are in 
the period through 2012." The US is believed to envisage 
disbursements up to 2012, the target year for the realignment of 
US forces in Japan. At the same time, citing the relocation of 
Futenma Air Station in Ginowan, Okinawa, he said, "It may take 
longer than other realignment projects." 
 
Regarding Japan's share of 26 billion dollars, Lawless noted: 
"Japan's investment in its ally is huge. Japan will have to spend 
a lot of money not only for the relocation of US Marines to 
Guam." In order to obtain the understanding of the Congress and 
other parties, he is believed to have stressed that Japan would 
bear the main part. 
 
(5) US force realignment (Part 1): Accountability not fulfilled; 
Government's efforts to convince local communities bound to run 
into difficulties 
 
NIHON KEIZAI (Page 2) (Abridged slightly) 
April 26, 2006 
 
TOKYO 00002276  007 OF 012 
 
 
 
On April 25, the day after Japan-US talks on US force realignment 
were effectively settled, Mayor Isao Ogawa of Sagamihara, 
Kanagawa Prefecture, called on Defense Agency Director General 
Fukushiro Nukaga, who had just returned from the United States, 
at his agency. The mayor said to the defense chief: "The 
responsibility for national security rests exclusively with the 
central government, but it's not good for the central government 
to impose its decisions on local governments." 
 
Koizumi indisposed to offering explanation 
 
US Army 1st Corps headquarters would move to Camp Zama in 
Sagamihara with the realignment of US forces in Japan. If a 
conflict were to break out on the Korean Peninsula or in the 
Taiwan Strait, Camp Zama would serve as Japan-US combat 
operations center. 
 
Local residents are hardly aware of this. Why do Japan and the US 
have to enhance military cooperation in the post-Cold War era? 
There is a need to clearly explain China's growing military 
spending and other factors. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who 
has been conducting one-phrase politics, is most unfit for that 
job. The government has yet to fulfill its accountability. 
 
With the US Army likely to return only a small portion of its 
Sagami Depot, US force realignment may end up forcing a greater 
burden on the residents of Sagamihara. 
 
Ogawa, a former LDP prefectural assemblyman, is not dismissive of 
the Japan-US security setup. With the traditional conservatives- 
versus-reformists rivalry long gone with the Cold War era, there 
is no clear ideology that can suppress the anti-base movement. 
 
Public works projects are declining. The authority of local heads 
would grow stronger with the trinity reform to reshape the tax 
and financial systems of the central and local governments. The 
central government now has few means to elicit support from local 
communities for US bases. 
 
On April 23, Katsusuke Ihara won the mayoral race in Iwakuni, 
Yamaguchi Prefecture, on a campaign pledge to persistently press 
the central government for a withdrawal of a jet relocation plan. 
The US Navy is planning to transfer about 60 carrier-based planes 
from the Atsugi base in Kanagawa Prefecture to the Iwakuni base, 
bringing the total number of US military planes to nearly 120. It 
will be greater than that at Kadena Air Base, which is one of the 
biggest in the Far East. Ihara called for a plebiscite in March 
,DQxs`sb08y complained to Nukaga, saying, "I 
might be recalled by the citizens." 
 
TOKYO 00002276  008 OF 012 
 
 
 
Shimabukuro's complaint was partly intended to extract a local 
economy revitalization package from the central government. The 
comment also reflected Shimabukuro's genuine fear of misreading 
citizens' wishes, which would endanger his political career. 
 
Clock is ticking 
 
In a press conference yesterday, Nukaga expressed his desire to 
submit to the current Diet session a US force realignment 
promotion bill, including a new system to extend subsidies to 
local communities hosting US bases. 
 
With the current Diet session scheduled to end June 18, questions 
remain as to whether such a bill can clear the Diet by then. A 
failure would force the government to wait until after the 
September LDP presidential election to begin earnestly convincing 
local communities. 
 
The Japan-US Security Consultative Committee (two-plus-two) is 
scheduled to meet May 2. A final agreement there on the US force 
realignment plan would be followed by President Bush's approval 
of a final report by the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) 
Commission. If Congress does not reject it within 45 days, work 
to integrate and streamline US bases will begin. 
 
Japan's failure to speedily convince local communities may 
seriously strain relations with the US. 
 
Public support is essential for the government to pay the huge 
bill for the relocation of US Marines from Okinawa to Guam. There 
still remain many unexplained matters. The clock is ticking for 
the government. 
 
(6) Thoughts on income disparity (Part 2); Deregulation not so 
bad; Economic recovery shoring up income level 
 
NIHON KEIZAI (Page 1) (Excerpts) 
April 20, 2006 
 
Taxi companies are now free to increase the number of vehicles 
they operate as a result of regulatory reform in 2002. Nihon 
Kotsu, a taxi company in Shinagawa Ward that had been strapped 
with excessive debts due to the collapse of the bubble economy, 
has recovered from the slump thanks to this regulatory reform. 
 
Black taxis become popular 
 
The company introduced black taxis, a black sumptuous sedan that 
looks like a limousine but whose fare is the same as that of 
ordinary taxis, along with restructuring efforts. Gaining support 
from customers, the operation rate of these vehicles for the past 
three months has risen 2 points to 47% , compared with the level 
a year earlier. President Ichiro Kawanabe said, "Many drivers now 
want to drive black taxis, as they bring a larger income." 
 
It has been pointed out that since competition has become fierce 
in the taxi business as a result of the deregulation, drivers' 
working conditions have deteriorated. The number of vehicles has 
increased, but the number of customers remained sluggish. The 
daily operating income (national average) per vehicle in fiscal 
2004 stood at 28,985 yen, down 10% from fiscal 2000. The reform 
indeed turned out to be severe for existing companies and 
 
TOKYO 00002276  009 OF 012 
 
 
drivers. 
 
However, consumers have benefited from the deregulation, because 
services, such as the introduction of black taxis, welfare taxis 
that can carry a customer in a wheelchair, and long-distance 
services have become available. President Osamu Masuda of Tomato 
Kotsu in Fukuoka, which started business in April 2004, pointed 
out, "The taxi industry has lacked a sense of being a service 
industry." 
 
The taxi industry has absorbed many people who have been forced 
out of jobs during the slump. The number of those employed by 
taxi companies as drivers increased by 18,000 over the past five 
years. Reflecting the recovery of the economy, the operating 
income of a taxi registered by Tokyo Musen jumped to 67,000 yen 
in the last week of March from about 48,000 yen three years ago. 
This higher level is almost on a par with the level seen during 
the economic bubble years. 
 
Young people starting over 
 
Another symbol of the protracted economic downturn has been the 
emergence of NEETs (not in education, employment, or training) 
and so-called freeters (job-hopping part-time workers).  People 
in the 25-34 age bracket are the victims of limited recruiting by 
companies in the 1990s. 
 
In 1997, one-fourth of jobless people belonged to this age 
bracket. Japan's poverty rate, an indicator of the ratio of 
people whose income is below half the average level, ranks fifth 
in the world at 15.3% (2000). Some take the view that young 
people have contributed to this high ratio. 
 
However, the upbeat economy is driving up the income of these 
people. Fukuoka Bank on April 1 decided to employ its part-time 
workers on a permanent basis. Adecco, a temporary job placement 
agency located in Minato Ward, Tokyo, said that there has been no 
end to its temporary staffers being recruited by companies where 
they had been assigned. 
 
Young people around the age of 30, who graduated college in the 
midst of a difficult employment environment, often use the words 
"revenge job switch." According to a survey by the Ministry of 
Internal Affairs and Communications, 410,000 non-permanent 
employees, such as temp staff and part-timers, found permanent 
jobs in 2005, up 17% from the preceding year. 
 
The problem is how this move can be spread so that "losers" can 
try again to find permanent jobs. Kiyoshi Ota, a senior 
researcher at the Japan Research Institute, pointed out, "It is 
possible to prevent the lower-income bracket from further 
expanding if the current economic growth is sustained." Even if 
the haves become richer in the process of economic growth, 
further widening the disparity, there is no need to fear as long 
as the entire income level is pushed up. 
 
(7) Thoughts on income disparity (part 3); Do not set the clock 
back; Continuing reform, economic growth are royal road to 
correcting disparities 
 
NIHON KEIZAI (Page 1) (Excerpts) 
April 21, 2006 
 
 
TOKYO 00002276  010 OF 012 
 
 
It is necessary to provide losers with opportunities to try again 
 
How to deal with the income disparity issue is a classic and yet 
new issue for the government. It is a politically thorny issue, 
because the key words - correcting disparities - that are 
pleasing to the ear involve the danger of reversing the ongoing 
structural reforms. 
 
The general public tends to be receptive to such criticisms as 
blaming as the main cause of income disparity the competition 
brought about by deregulation or the cuts in public works that 
allegedly gave rise to a gap between urban and rural areas. A 
political move seeking to revise deregulation policy or to 
increase public works on the pretext of correcting the 
disparities seems to be emerging in both the ruling and 
opposition camps. 
 
However, restructuring efforts by companies, the household 
economy, deregulation and structural reforms have all undergirded 
the Japanese economy, which at long last is taking an upward turn 
after 15 years of sluggishness following the bursting of the 
bubble economy. Statistics compiled by the Cabinet Office show 
that deregulation in 14 areas, including cargo transport, power 
generation and mobile phones, since the 1990s produced economic 
effects worth approximately 14.3 trillion yen (about 4% of gross 
national income) in fiscal 2002. 
 
This achievement was ascribable to private-sector-led market 
competition, propped up by the idea of equal opportunity rather 
than equal results through the redistribution of income by the 
government. 
 
The issue in the education area is the criticism that children of 
families without financial capability tend to be deprived of 
opportunities to receive a good education, which could entrench 
social disparity. The above principle can be applied in settling 
this issue as well. What the government should not do is to 
redistribute income so that all children can go to schools, cram 
schools or private schools. Its role should be to provide an 
educational environment so that children can receive higher 
education, by improving their scholarship through public 
education available to them all without relying on cram schools 
or private schools. 
 
Real safety net urged 
 
Aishin Seiki Co., an auto parts manufacture affiliated with 
Toyota Motors, will start parts production in Tomakomai, 
Hokkaido. The company, based in Aichi prefecture, has decided to 
set up a production base in Hokkaido, judging that it would be 
easier to recruit human resources there than in Aichi, where 
there is a labor shortage. If private companies grow, employment 
opportunities will spread to provincial districts without the 
government spending tax money. 
 
Keimei Kaizuka, a professor emeritus at Tokyo University, 
stressed at a study group meeting on disparities sponsored by the 
Comprehensive Fiscal Policy Research Center, "The problem is not 
the existence of people with high income but how to deal with 
poverty." 
 
How should the government help those who have tried again and 
failed and those without sufficient income because of mental or 
 
TOKYO 00002276  011 OF 012 
 
 
physical handicaps or illness? Bank of Japan Governor Toshihiko 
Fukui noted, "Japan has yet to discuss the issue of building a 
safety net as an essential civil minimum." In building such a 
safety net, it will be necessary to redefine the socially weak in 
order to determine who should really be relieved from poverty, by 
discarding the fixed idea that elderly people and small and 
medium-size businesses are all weak. 
 
Downward pressure tends to work on wages throughout the world due 
to the rise of low-wage countries like China and India. The role 
of the government in making the global economy and market 
function smoothly is to rebuild a safety net intended to relieve 
those who are really socially weak. Japan's safety-net policy has 
often been criticized as false egalitarianism that lowers 
economic efficiency. Setting back the hands of the clock will not 
settle the problem. 
 
(8) Interview with Asian Development Bank Governor Kuroda: 
Compatibility necessary for FTAs, negative effect of rising oil 
prices a worry 
 
YOMIURI (Page 9) (Full) 
April 26, 2006 
 
Takashi Kikuchi, Manila 
 
Asian Development Bank (ADB based in Manila) will hold an annual 
meeting in India in early May. Prior to the meeting, Governor 
Haruhiko Kuroda responded to an interview with the Yomiuri 
Shimbun. Kuroda said that ADB ranked indirect assistance for 
trade liberalization as its medium to long-term challenge. On 
recent favorable economic conditions in Asia, he expressed his 
strong concern about the negative impact of surging oil prices on 
the economy. 
 
-- How about the focus in the upcoming annual assembly? 
 
"We would like to conduct probing discussions on medium to long- 
term economic growth and poverty reduction in Asia. The number of 
those who live on less than one dollar a day is rapidly 
decreasing, but environmental concerns and income disparity are 
emerging as serious problems. We are not sure yet of how to 
eliminate poverty. We are now at a crossroads. 
 
-- You have earnestly supported the challenge of cooperation and 
economic integration in the region since you assumed the current 
post in February of last year, haven't you? 
 
"If countries that are growing remarkably and countries that are 
growing slowly are merged, the income differentials may be 
narrowed. We have stepped up efforts to promote Mekong basin 
development, indirect support for financial cooperation by the 
ASEAN + 3 (Association of Southeast Asian Nations plus Japan, 
China and South Korea), as well as anti-infection campaigning. 
 
In Asia, few dozens of free trade agreements (FTA) have been or 
will be concluded. It is essential to maintain compatibility in 
inking such accords. If common rules, such as common rules of 
origin, are not introduced, trade procedures will become 
complicated. A heavy burden may be imposed particularly on small 
corporations. Even compared with the World Bank, which also takes 
a prospect of development assistance and poverty reduction, our 
voice is weaker on trade issues. We will conduct research with 
 
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help from the outside and would like to offer advice as the need 
arises while showing FTAs' trade creating effect." 
 
-- Oil prices are sharply soaring. 
 
"The average growth rate of Asian developing countries is 
estimated to be 7.2% this year, but if the current situation 
persists, there will unavoidably be a negative impact. Prices 
over the level of 70 dollars per barrel are too high. There are 
also such risk factors as conspicuous payments imbalances, rising 
interest rates, and bird flu, but oil prices are the most serious 
matter of concern for now." 
 
DONOVAN