##ented to start with and lack venture spirits. however, in the past, there were times when the establishment rate in japan was comparable to that in countries around the world. stability - oriented dna is a mere perception. we expect firms to aggressively exert entrepreneurship. at the same time, it is also important for the public sector to prepare an environment in which challenges to new businesses can easily take place. concluding remarks the economy in this region has been picking up, while there is lingering severity in private demand, including business fixed investment and private consumption. against such a backdrop, miyagi prefecture has set a goal of “ achieving the wealth prefecture miyagi, and striving to achieve gross production of 10 trillion yen, ” and has been making efforts to vitalize the industries from various perspectives. i have learned that many companies were already attracted to the region. moreover, sendai city has a broad - based ability to pull in customers as the largest commercial city in the tohoku region, and largescale facilities have recently been opened one after another. of course, the environment surrounding the regional economy, including intensified competition with overseas and the decline in public works, is by no means favorable. however, the region is full of attractions, with one of the nation ’ s largest granaries, a wealth of fishery resources, many research institutions, and ample traditional craft industries. the region has high potential for growth. today, i am scheduled to visit various places such as the central shopping area in front of sendai station. i believe it is a valuable opportunity to gain firsthand knowledge about the reality of the regional economy that cannot be gauged through statistics and the media. moreover, as called as “ a city of trees, ” boulevard trees here are beautiful, and i can just imagine that it might be dazzlingly beautiful when green shoots burst out all together through early summer. like those green shoots, i am also looking forward to closely seeing your efforts toward growth.

have also become increasingly attractive as products markets. to capture such promising markets, firms in advanced economies have been increasing the number of production and sales bases for local products. in addition, local firms have also been increasing their production by introducing technologies and sales know - how from advanced economies. a virtuous cycle, in that such an increase in business activity stimulates consumption through a rise in the purchasing power of households, which in turn further increases business activity, is expected to continue. expectations for the future are also pushing up demand at present. second, fiscal and monetary policies carried out as a financial crisis response in various countries significantly exploited the potential demand. for example, in china, purchase support measures for automobiles and television sets were taken and a large - scale fiscal expenditure was set partly for improving infrastructure. accommodative monetary conditions in advanced economies resulted in providing low cost funds to the markets, and those funds are flowing into emerging economies in which high growth is expected. that brought about an improvement in funding conditions and a rise in stock prices, which contributed to increasing business activity and promoting consumption through an increase in income. by contrast, while the u. s. and european advanced economies have been recovering, momentum has been lacking. in the united states, while the number of workers has started to increase and consumption has been holding up well, house sales and house prices have been stagnant and the unemployment rate has been close to 10 percent. in european countries, where economic ties with high growing east asian regions are weak, the improvement has been further lagging. moreover, financial institutions are shouldering large impaired assets and taking a cautious stance in extending loans and households are taking a cautious consumption behavior due to the heavy debt burden. those are the problems common to the united stated and europe. they are the “ balance - sheet problem, ” namely, the problem of how to repair the impaired asset conditions. as you remember, it dragged the economy for a protracted period also in japan after the burst of the bubble. as for the outlook, it is projected that overseas economies will continue to improve while stability in international financial markets will be maintained. emerging economies will continue to expand, and the u. s. and european economies will gradually increase their degree of recovery, even though balance - sheet problems need time to resolve. however, such outlook is associated with various uncertainties. first, in international financial markets, the recovery in the depth of market transactions and in market liquidity has still been delayed