Business leaders welcome 'two major parties' advances

The Chairman of the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren), Okuda Hiroshi, on November 10 welcomed the results of the general election as a sign of the arrival of a "two-party system".

Okuda said, "I've been looking forward to such a system as is in place in the United States in order to run the country smoothly."

He also demanded that the Liberal Democratic Party-led coalition government speed up the "reforms", and said that the JBF seeks policy discussions at all levels with the Democratic Party of Japan.

The Japan Association of Corporate Executives (ACE, Keizai Doyukai) on November 9 also requested that Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro swiftly deal with "pension reform", the privatization of the postal service, and other issues.

ACE Chairman Kitashiro Kakutaro urged the prime minister to dramatically accelerate the "reforms". (end)