Government names 14 member committee to prepare for postal firm
The government has decided on 14 members of a preparatory committee to set up a public corporation to take over state-run postal services, the posts minister said Thursday.
The members include Masaharu Ikuta, chairman of Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd., and Hiroshi Okuda, chairman of the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren).
Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications Minister Toranosuke Katayama said he will officially appoint the 14 members Friday.
In addition to Ikuta, who is designated as the first head of the corporation, and Okuda, the committee also includes Yotaro Kobayashi, chairman of the Japan Association of Corporate Executives (Keizai Doyukai), and Junichi Murata, vice chairman of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
It also includes Naoki Tanaka, president of the 21st Century Public Policy Institute who chaired Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s private advisory panel that recently proposed three options for privatizing postal services in the future.
The selection of the committee members were made by Koizumi, Ikuta and Katayama in a meeting at the prime minister’s office earlier in the day.
The public corporation will run the three postal services of mail delivery, postal savings and kampo life insurance after it is set up next April.
The committee will hold its first meeting in October to kick off the work of mapping out a plan for a smooth conversion of the Postal Services Agency into the new entity.
27.9.02
A government committee established to prepare for the conversion of the state-run postal services to a new public entity will hold its first meeting in mid-October, the head of the committee said Friday.
Masaharu Ikuta, chairman of Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd., the committee head, gave the schedule after receiving, together with 13 other members, an official appointment letter from posts minister Toranosuke Katayama on the day.
Katayama, public management, home affairs, posts and telecommunications minister, told the panel to strive to accomplish their task. Postal services are huge in size, involving some 294,000 workers and 360 trillion yen in funds, he noted.
The government plans to establish the public entity next April to take over the three postal services — mail delivery, postal savings and kampo life insurance.
Among the members are Hiroshi Okuda, chairman of the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren), Yotaro Kobayashi, chairman of the Japan Association of Corporate Executives (Keizai Doyukai), and Junichi Murata, vice chairman of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The panel also includes Naoki Tanaka, president of the 21st Century Public Policy Institute, who chaired Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s private advisory panel that recently proposed three options for privatizing postal services in the future.
After receiving his appointment, Tanaka told reporters that the three options are the base for deliberating privatization bills.
But if necessary he is ready to share his view as a member of the preparatory committee with other members, he said.
