Talks begin on privatization on Japan Post
A key government policy-making panel has kicked off discussions on privatization of the nation’s postal services, with members confirming the principle that privatization will be conducted in a way to stimulate the economy.
The Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy also confirmed it will pay close attention to the roles of the postal services in local communities and the issue of convenience for the people, economic and fiscal policy minister Heizo Takenaka told reporters after a meeting of the council.
Council members agreed to study the matter while ensuring effective use of the existing post office networks run by Japan Post, he said.
They also agreed to pay due attention to employment of workers at Japan Post, a public corporation set up in April to take over the Postal Services Agency’s three services of mail delivery, postal savings and “kampo” life insurance, Takenaka said.
Takenaka said the council, chaired by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, plans to draw up an interim report on the issue next spring before finalizing it in autumn next year.
Koizumi has said he will make the privatization in 2007 of the postal services a key pledge of his ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in the general election expected in early November.
The privatization of the postal services is a delicate issue for the government and the LDP because some senior LDP lawmakers, especially those in a faction led by former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, are strongly against it due to their vested interests in posts-related businesses.
Private-sector economist Naoki Tanaka, head of Koizumi’s private panel on privatization of the postal services, was summoned to the meeting and briefed members about issues surrounding the nation’s postal system and his views on ways to reform it.
Tanaka said he is concerned that the nation’s postal networks have become obsolete, according to Takenaka.
The government must privatize the system given the fact that similar networks run by the private sector, such as services by convenience store chains and door-to-door parcel delivery services, have developed rapidly, meeting demands from people in local areas, Tanaka was quoted as saying.
