PRESIDENT’S COMMITMENT

We will strive to solve
social issues and create
new corporate value
through CSR rooted in thefront-lines of business.

Fully Committed to Recovery in the Disaster
Region and of the Japanese Economy
I would first like to extend my deepest sympathies to everyone
affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake that occurred on March
11, and express my sincere gratitude for the words of encouragement
for Japan received from so many countries around the world. The
entire ITOCHU Group is committed to offering its full support to theregion. The role of private-sector corporations like us in a crisis ofunprecedented proportions is to provide the kind of highly targeted,long-term support that cannot be provided by the government. Intalking with local people in the disaster area, I came away with astrong sense of the necessity to meet a truly diverse set of needs
going forward. Recovery efforts are currently transitioning from emergency post-disaster relief to regional revitalization and economic
recovery. We intend to accurately identify changing local needs andcontinue providing sustained support through our main businesses asa general trading company with many functions. Furthermore, amid
concerns that Japan’s international presence is waning, we will reaffirm the importance of the roles general trading companies play, andtackle business with the resolve of a company set on driving Japan’s
economy forward. (See pages 5 and 6)

Shifting to Proactive Management and Rigorously
Practicing a Front-line Approach to CSR
Our new medium-term management plan, “Brand-new Deal 2012,” wasset in motion in April 2011. The name evokes something completelynew, while also suggesting a new set of measures. Under the banner ofthe new ITOCHU, we will shift to a distinctly proactive management
approach and promote the basic policies of strengthening front-line
capabilities, proactively seeking new opportunities, and expanding ourscale of operations. Effective April 2011, we implemented a majororganizational restructuring of the largest scale in 11 years, going fromseven Division Companies to five and reducing administrative divisions
at the head office from 16 divisions to 11, in an effort to expedite andincrease the efficiency of operations. (See page 13)
We also revised our basic policies for CSR promotion, adding“through a front-line approach” to “communication with stakeholders”
as well as new policies on promoting businesses that help solve social
issues and involvement in and contributions to the development oflocal and global communities. First of all, communication through aMasahiro Okafuji
President andChief Executive Officer

Medium-Term Management Plan

Basic Policies 䡲 Strengthen Our Front-line Capabilities

Brand-new Deal 2012

䡲 Proactively Seek New Opportunities
䡲 Expand Our Scale of Operations

FY2012–FY2013
Guided by the basic policies of “Strengthen Our Front-lineCapabilities,” “Proactively Seek New Opportunities,” and“Expand Our Scale of Operations,” every officer and employee
is moving with assertive and forward-looking action to “Earn,Cut, Prevent!” in the drive to create a new ITOCHU.

3Measures byKey Sector

䡲 China: Aggressively Expand Business
Machinery-related:䡲Increase and Accumulate Assets
Natural Resources:
䡲Expand and Upgrade Businessfront-line approach fundamentally means interacting humbly withother people as equals. In my own experience, visiting customers
directly and communicating with them from their perspective whileconstantly thinking about the issues affecting their industry translates
into a sustained business relationship. There is an enormous difference in the quality of information you acquire by going to the site,getting a feel for the atmosphere and listening, compared to justhandling something over the phone. There were many times I learned
the customer’s expectations for ITOCHU and their concerns just basedon offhand remarks.
The business of a general trading company spans a range ofcountries and industries. We recognize that we must understand theexpectations placed on us and concerns about us through communication on these various front-lines of countries and industries andincorporate them into our businesses. Furthermore, to exist in harmony with society we must identify what stakeholders expect of us
and what concerns they have about us, which means communicationon the front-lines is highly important. Based on this understanding wewill further strengthen communication with diverse stakeholders on
our many front-lines.

General Trading Companies Should Actively Workto Solve Social Issues
Guided by “Committed to the Global Good,” the mission of ITOCHU,
we are working to solve social issues at the global level. People
pursue prosperous, affluent lives in both a material and spiritual
sense. We want to help people enjoy prosperous and better lives.
Linking this intention to the creation of sustainable societies may beconsidered the ultimate form of CSR. This also leads to the practice of
sampo yoshi (good for the buyer, seller and society), which was trumpeted by the Ohmi merchant Chubei Itoh, the founder of ITOCHU.
For this reason as well we must do what we can for society throughour businesses to help solve social issues, specifically climate change
and human rights concerns. Corporations must also operate based on
the idea of helping solve social issues by anticipating market growthover the long term and establishing a foothold in those markets. We
believe that businesses in the early stage of development are precisely
what general trading companies should be involved in, and in our new
medium-term management plan, renewable energy (see pages 9 and10) and rechargeable batteries are positioned as priority sectors. Active
involvement by general trading companies, which build value chainsfrom upstream to downstream, helps markets emerge, promotes
technology advances, raises efficiency and fosters businesses. Throughthis cycle we hope to help solve issues facing society. However, getting
involved in businesses in booming but unstable markets requires

Basic Policies for
CSR Promotion
FY2012–FY2013
Alongside the drafting of its management plan, ITOCHU formulated basic policies for CSR promotion, with the aim of globallypromoting CSR with direct linkages to the management plan.
Through integrated CSR and management promotion, ITOCHU
seeks to promote CSR via its core business activities.

considerable size and strength. This is one of the reasons companies
strive for growth. ITOCHU, for its part, intends to give equal weight toincreasing revenues and helping solve social issues.
At the same time, we believe that in conducting business aroundthe world it is important to actively participate in society as a memberof the local community and the global community and to contribute todevelopment at the local level, even outside of our businesses.
ITOCHU will continue to energetically engage in social contribution
activities all over the world.

Developing Human Resources for Front-line CSR
Conducting business in a multitude of countries with differing culturesand laws necessarily takes partners that are locally rooted, have astrong sense of ethics and are trusted by society. When selecting
partners we place a great deal of emphasis on the company’s values
and ethical outlook. Moreover, in order to effectively carry out a joint
project with a partner, human resources must be developed who arecapable of communicating in a timely and straightforward manner. It
is said that people are the real assets of a general trading company,and for ITOCHU human resources are our lifeblood—we are among
the top companies in Japan in terms of money spent on training perperson. We spare no expense when it comes to human resources
development. Last year we launched a new program targeted atyounger employees for short-term study of Chinese and other specialty languages, and began sending them to China and other countries positioned as priority markets where the languages are spoken.
Through the program we hope to train more locally rooted specialists
in the respective markets. These personnel will promote locally rooted
CSR with high proficiency as professionals in their industries.

Creating New Corporate Value with Society
The relationship between companies and society is currently undergoing considerable change. In the midst of this change, we must be
fully aware of the impact of our business activities on society andmust not inadvertently become indirectly complicit in any humanrights violations or incidents of environmental pollution. ITOCHU has
taken part in the United Nations Global Compact since 2009, a set ofuniversal principles on human rights, labor, the environment andanti-corruption, and we continue to work to raise awareness within
the company and among suppliers.
Serious engagement in creating value that can be shared with society
through our businesses will raise our competitiveness and lead to furthergrowth. We will take on the challenge of creating new corporate value by
further strengthening the front-line capabilities that enable successful
performance as industry professionals by each and every employee.

 Strengthening communication with stakeholders through afront-line approach Promoting businesses that help solve social issues
 Strengthening supply chain management (Respect for humanrights and consideration for the environment) Promoting education on CSR and environmental conservation
 Involving in and contributing to development of local andglobal communities

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