July 5, 2023
Japan Fair Trade Commission
(Retirement speech by Former Secretary General Kobayashi)
I am Kobayashi, and I retire as Secretary General today.
Thank you very much for keeping in touch with all of you through regular press meeting and other means, and for being actively featured in our reporting.
It has been one year since I took office, and over the past year, the General Secretariat and the Committee has made various achievements. Reporting on them and getting related questions, I had a good time here. Let me thank you again for your cooperation.
I think we have shown a lot of success in the past year in both enforcement and advocacy. We have also made some progress in linking them. Last year, at the press meeting about my inauguration, I said that I wanted to make the Japan Fair Trade Commission as helpful as possible to outsiders. I think we have gotten some results on those things. As I step down today, I would like to ask for your continued understanding of the Japan Fair Trade Commission's activities and your reporting on the JFTC.
Thank you very much.
(Inauguration speech by New Secretary General Fujimoto)
I am Fujimoto, and I was appointed as Secretary General as of today. Nice to meet you.
As former Secretary General Kobayashi said, the Japan Fair Trade Commission is committed to the mission of better demonstrating the functions of the market through enforcement and advocacy, and developing the Japanese economy.
At current, we believe that the economy and society face a very significant structural change. And the pace of technological innovation, including digitalization, is extremely fast. Under these circumstances, we recognize that the Japan Fair Trade Commission's operations are becoming increasingly complex and difficult, and hence our role in various fields is expanding. Going forward, we need to have the ability to respond in these various fields in an appropriate manner.
In order for the Japan Fair Trade Commission to continue to fully fulfill our mission, the General Secretariat should be a group of experts with the highest level of law enforcement and policymaking capabilities in the world. As for enforcement, I believe it is necessary to implement effective law enforcement in each specific cases, and as for advocacy, I believe it is important to identify and analyze competition policy issues with sensitivity by looking at the actual state of the economy and to point out relevant issues and make recommendations. I am quite sure that in achieving these tasks, we must be ready for all the time to perform the latest skill with the cutting-edge knowledge.
In doing so, it is necessary for the General Secretariat of the Japan Fair Trade Commission to carry on the good tradition it has cultivated and; firstly, strengthen the organizational capacity of the General Secretariat; secondly, build the strength to be sensitive to changes in the times and consider responses from a broad perspective; thirdly, continue to refine ability to communicate with the outside by clearly illustrating the significance and effects of well-considered measures. As former Secretary General Kobayashi said, at some point, I think it is necessary to brush up communicating skill with the outside in the sense that you can have the affinity for our activities.
In brief, I think the General Secretariat needs to upgrade from now on, and the key word is upgrade.
That's all for my speech.
（Tentative translation）
I am Kobayashi, and I retire as Secretary General today.
Thank you very much for keeping in touch with all of you through regular press meeting and other means, and for being actively featured in our reporting.
It has been one year since I took office, and over the past year, the General Secretariat and the Committee has made various achievements. Reporting on them and getting related questions, I had a good time here. Let me thank you again for your cooperation.
I think we have shown a lot of success in the past year in both enforcement and advocacy. We have also made some progress in linking them. Last year, at the press meeting about my inauguration, I said that I wanted to make the Japan Fair Trade Commission as helpful as possible to outsiders. I think we have gotten some results on those things. As I step down today, I would like to ask for your continued understanding of the Japan Fair Trade Commission's activities and your reporting on the JFTC.
Thank you very much.
(Inauguration speech by New Secretary General Fujimoto)
I am Fujimoto, and I was appointed as Secretary General as of today. Nice to meet you.
As former Secretary General Kobayashi said, the Japan Fair Trade Commission is committed to the mission of better demonstrating the functions of the market through enforcement and advocacy, and developing the Japanese economy.
At current, we believe that the economy and society face a very significant structural change. And the pace of technological innovation, including digitalization, is extremely fast. Under these circumstances, we recognize that the Japan Fair Trade Commission's operations are becoming increasingly complex and difficult, and hence our role in various fields is expanding. Going forward, we need to have the ability to respond in these various fields in an appropriate manner.
In order for the Japan Fair Trade Commission to continue to fully fulfill our mission, the General Secretariat should be a group of experts with the highest level of law enforcement and policymaking capabilities in the world. As for enforcement, I believe it is necessary to implement effective law enforcement in each specific cases, and as for advocacy, I believe it is important to identify and analyze competition policy issues with sensitivity by looking at the actual state of the economy and to point out relevant issues and make recommendations. I am quite sure that in achieving these tasks, we must be ready for all the time to perform the latest skill with the cutting-edge knowledge.
In doing so, it is necessary for the General Secretariat of the Japan Fair Trade Commission to carry on the good tradition it has cultivated and; firstly, strengthen the organizational capacity of the General Secretariat; secondly, build the strength to be sensitive to changes in the times and consider responses from a broad perspective; thirdly, continue to refine ability to communicate with the outside by clearly illustrating the significance and effects of well-considered measures. As former Secretary General Kobayashi said, at some point, I think it is necessary to brush up communicating skill with the outside in the sense that you can have the affinity for our activities.
In brief, I think the General Secretariat needs to upgrade from now on, and the key word is upgrade.
That's all for my speech.
（Tentative translation）
