Chairman's Comments on the "Medium-term Management Targets and Medium-term Management Plan" of the Postal Public Corporation

JBA released its Chairman's Comments on the "Medium-term Management Targets and Medium-term Management Plan" of the Postal Public Corporation on January 16 as follows.Today, at the meeting of the Founding Committee of the Postal Public Corporation, the four-year Medium-term Management Targets and Medium-term Management Plan of the Postal Public Corporation starting April 2003 were finalized to be submitted for governmental approval.JBA maintained in the request comments submitted in December 2002 that the Medium-term Management Targets should incorporate the Corporation's objective to supplement the business of the private sector and indicate a specific plan for reviewing the bloated postal savings, and that the Medium-term Management Plan should be appropriate for a government-operated corporation.However, the released Targets do not specifically address the supplemental role of the Corporation. Rather, they arouse concern that the Corporation will further suppress the private sector by aiming at "independent and flexible management."It is regrettable that no opportunity was given to relevant fields of the private sector and the general public to express their views in the process of drafting the Medium-term Management Targets/Plan, which will affect the nation's life for as long as four years.The fundamental problems of the postal savings cannot be solved by a mere transformation to a public corporation. Here again, the Government is asked to promptly embark on overall reforms including privatizing the three postal businesses, paying full attention to the September 2002 Report of the Committee to Discuss the Future of Three Postal Services and proposals of JBA and other groups.