By Kazuhiko Takeshima
Chairman of the Japan Fair Trade Commission
Moscow, June 1, 2007
Ladies and Gentlemen,
As all of us here have found, the 6th ICN annual conference has been veryproductive and well organised. We have been able to enjoy discussing variousissues, candidly exchanging our opinions with our colleagues, and I am sure thatthe 6th annual conference has further strengthened the cooperation amongcompetition authorities in the world.
I would like to express my sincere appreciation to Mr. Artemyev and all the staffof the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Russian Federation (FAS), for theirgreat hospitality extended to all of us and significant efforts for the success of thisannual conference.
Having just concluded a successful annual conference in Moscow, let me turn tothe next year.
The next annual conference will be held in Kyoto, Japan, from Monday April 14,2008, to Thursday 16, starting with a welcome reception on Sunday April 13. Itis quite honour and pleasure for us to host the ICN annual conference. I hopethat the next Kyoto conference will be able to provide another opportunity tostrengthen our partnership.
Since I joined the JFTC as Chairman in 2002, I have always been saying "noeconomic growth without sound competition". And I have done my best tostrengthen the Japanese competition enforcement through various measuresincluding a substantial amendment of the Japanese Antimonopoly Act in 2005.In addition, in view of increasing importance of international cooperation amongcompetition authorities while the economy is getting globalised, the JFTC hasbeen working on strengthening the relationship with other competition authoritiesand also actively engaging in the works in multilateral frameworks in general andthe ICN in particular.
To deepen the relationship among authorities, I believe that the betterunderstanding of the cultural background of the other country would be of greathelp. That is why I have chosen Kyoto, an ancient capital as well as arepresentative of the Japanese culture and tradition, as the venue. I stronglyhope that everyone here and your colleagues in your agency will come to Kyototo establish more robust and active cooperation with each other and enjoy theJapanese traditional culture as well. We also would like all of you to enjoy thespring season of Kyoto, which is popular for the beautiful cherry blossom.Moreover, there are many Japanese traditional gardens,shrines, temples,historically loved scenery, and so on, all of which would make your visit a greaterone.
Anyway, seeing is believing. Please see the short video of Kyoto and theconference venue.
< VIDEO > (around 6 minutes)
I think the video has provided you with some impression on the venue of the nextconference. Needless to say, however, this video has shown just a part of Kyoto.We hope all of you will experience the beautiful spring of Kyoto and the Japaneseculture,and, of course, another round of fruitful discussion on competition lawand policy at the annual conference.
Now I would like to sincerely invite all of you and your colleagues to the Kyotoannual conference. We are waiting for everyone to come.
Thank you and see you in Kyoto next year.
