Chairman's Messages

Chairman's Speeches

Chairman Kobayashi’s Comments on the Expanded State of Emergency and
Resumption of Socioeconomic Activities

September 13, 2021

The government has announced the expansion of the state of emergency to 19 prefectures including Tokyo. It has also been extended until September 30. Although the daily new COVID-19 cases have been decreasing, the number of seriously ill patients remains high and the hospital bed use rate is at a critical level. In view of this situation, I think this measure was unavoidable. In preparation for winter, when infectious diseases spread more readily, I would like the government to do everything in its power to establish an adequate medical care provision system in light of the issues that have arisen through its response so far.

On the other hand, now that rapid progress is being made on the vaccine front, it is time for our leaders to truly focus on normalizing our pandemic-plagued socioeconomic activity, provided of course that they do so in step with COVID-19 countermeasures. Under the circumstances, I believe that the manner in which the government has revised its basic policy on the pandemic is a positive move. I applaud its decision to implement a forward-thinking vaccine/test-package system as a way to ease restrictions on our movement and behavior. Furthermore, on behalf of Japan’s Shosha, which are heavily reliant on global business, I am pleased that the government is considering phasing in the use of vaccine passports and otherwise conducting a stepwise review of our nation’s border controls.

The JFTC will do its utmost to cooperate closely with the government on policies aimed at balancing the normalization of socioeconomic activities with COVID-19 countermeasures.