This would reduce unit costs for foreign and domestic airlines. With the assistance of the Committee, we have become somewhat better informed about the procedures used for the allocation of slots for take-off and landing at Narita. But we are still of the view a transparent, fair an equitable slot allocation system should be introduced. Agricultural products . I fear that this matter will be all too familiar to the Committee, but I feel compelled to raise it because the issues in question have still to be addressed to our satisfaction.
Japan has an official list of non-harmful organisms.
When shipments of cut flowers, fruit, vegetables and flower bulbs come to Japan, they are fumigated or even refused if the organisms they contain are not on this list. But the list does not include all the non-harmful organisms which may be found in such shipments. It even does not contain some organisms which are already common inside Japan. We are pleased that approval times for new drugs are coming down and that the Ministry of Health and Welfare is taking steps to cut the time for such approvals to twelve months from next year. However, in practice it can still take considerably longer than twelve months to get a new drug approved.