Japan to Launch Round Table on Social Responsibility

Tokyo, Oct. 21 (Jiji Press)--The Japanese government plans to set
up a round-table conference for representatives from a wide range of
sectors, including company officials and consumers, in order to discuss
social responsibility issues.
Issues to be discussed at the forum may influence policy decisions
as participants will be involved directly in the deliberative process at a
time when a series of scandals have increased the public's distrust of
politicians and bureaucrats.
The scandals include lax surveillance by the agriculture ministry
that led to the sale of contaminated industrial-use rice to food
manufacturers, and shady political donations from multilevel marketing
firms.
The round table is expected to bring together government officials,
representatives of private companies, labor unions, consumer bodies and
nonprofit organizations, as well as investors.
The Cabinet Office hopes to hold the inaugural meeting within the
current fiscal year, which ends in March 2009, with Prime Minister Taro Aso
and Fujio Mitarai, chairman of the Japan Business Federation, or Nippon
Keidanren, attending.
The government expects participants to compile national strategy
plans involving policy recommendations and propose an ideal image of
Japanese society.
Policy recommendations and the roles of each sector are expected to
be decided by 2010 on issues such as the environment and food safety.
Government officials and representatives from other sectors are
expected to take part in the meeting on an equal footing, which is expected
to allow the forum to reflect grass-roots opinions and ensure transparency.
Given that similar systems exist in Europe, a Cabinet Office
official said such a structure has not been established in Japan due partly
to the wide gap between politicians and citizens.
With the number of nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations in
Japan exceeding 100,000, the goals of such groups have become extremely
diverse, observers say.
In a bid to form a basis for discussion, some 50 organizations will
hold a meeting in Tokyo Thursday to discuss the roles of firms, labor
groups, governmental organizations and NPOs.
An official from the Japan NPO Center said it is time for NGOs and
NPOs to unite in order to benefit from the launch of the round-table
meeting.
But it is still unclear whether the round table can work as
expected, as corporate management, workers and consumers are likely to face
a conflict of interest.
A key task for the new forum is to find common ground through
dialogue.