To promote information disclosure, the Japanese government decided to make public its surveys of these companies, and has done so twice, so far. As I have stated at length, Japan has made a great deal of progress over the last seven months since the Advisors' Conference was established. Particularly in the areas of crisis management and information disclosure, we have been quite successful. We have only eight months left before the transition to the new millennium. 254 days, to be exact.
Tremendous efforts are under way, but there is still much more to be done.
Next, I would like to outline some of the key points that I consider to be important to further promote Y2K readiness. First of all, Global cooperation is indispensable. In this global age where network based commerce is expanding and companies are woven into borderless telecommunication networks, a small problem in just one part of the network might have unexpected effects on the entire network. For example, there may be negative impacts in the product supply chains. Therefore, every individual concerned is required to fully understand the importance of the issue and cooperate with each other, in addition to taking responsibility for their own problems.