## 3 Upstream Involvement and Information Dissemination

It is necessary to begin upstream in order to obtain infrastructure projects, by researching the needs of partner countries and making proposals that address them as well as utilize opportunities such as top sales and seminars regarding the safety and reliability of Japanese technology and the total cost-effectiveness when including the operational stages and deepen our understanding with partner countries.

For example, in fiscal 2013, the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism visited Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia for discussions and to exchange opinions with the heads of state as well as minister in charge of land, infrastructure, transport and tourism to conduct top sales for Japanese infrastructure. Also, Deputy Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries visited a total of 13 countries and for countries with infrastructure needs, talks and other activities were held to promote Japanese infrastructure to prospective countries.

Additionally, opportunities such as foreign ministers and dignitaries visit Japan, hosted seminars, and invitation of dignitaries were actively used to spread the superiority of Japanese infrastructure. In particular, at the “8th APEC Transportation Ministerial Meeting” held in September of 2013 which brings together the transport ministers and officials from 21 APEC member countries and regions (economies), this opportunity was used to introduce land, sea and air infrastructure as part of a “Technical Tour” with five different courses. Around 70 members, including the representative, from the 20 economies represented in the Ministerial Meeting participated to experience Japan’s superior infrastructure firsthand.

On the other hand, in addition to spreading information about Japan’s infrastructure, international public and private sector councils were established for the infrastructure fields of water, roads, railways, ports, and Eco-city as a forum for the private and public sectors to coordinate the promotion of infrastructure exports. In fiscal 2013, the “Aviation Infrastructure International Development Council” was newly established and the first meeting was held in April of the same year. In addition to this, the “Japan Disaster Prevention Platform” will be established in early fiscal 2014 for the field of disaster prevention.

## 4 Development of Soft Infrastructure

Japan will actively participate in discussions in the establishment of international standards so that Japanese standards are reflected and promote Japanese standards to become de facto standards $ ^{Note} $ in prospective countries. This will help foster an environment that is advantageous to Japanese companies to enter markets and receive orders and also lobby to reflect the national land and urban structure of Asia-Pacific countries, including Japan, in international standards.

## 5 Supporting Businesses for Overseas Infrastructure

For overseas infrastructure projects, there is a growing trend for cases where orders include downstream (operations and management stages) aspects. On the other hand, there are differences in regulations and business practices of partner countries, and as a result, there are companies that struggle with issues arising from overseas projects making so that it is necessary to support private sector activities from a diversified perspective.

1) An increasing amount of infrastructure projects in emerging countries are utilizing the private sector to take advantage of private sector project participation and funding under strict budget restrictions. Especially, project in the sectors of transport and urban development come with expectations of long-term returns, but on the other hand it has characteristics such as long development terms, demand risks during the operations phase, and the influence of local government, requiring appropriate measures which are issues for the participation of Japanese companies.