Japan’s Private Sector Partnership members eager to play part in World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction
TOKYO, 24 December 2014 - The ranks of UNISDR’s Private Sector Partnership (PSP) have swollen in Japan thanks to the admission of nine new companies and a business federation, the Keidanren, which represents more than 1,300 firms and 112 business associations. In addition, more than 10 companies are poised to join.
The new entrants take the total number of Japanese members of the PSP to 14, while the global PSP membership now stands at 80 (including two new Japanese companies waiting for the admission confirmation).
On 18 December, eleven Japanese PSP members including the nine new members gathered at the head office in Tokyo of Kokusai Kogyo Co. Ltd., where Sandra Wu, Chair of UNISDR Private Sector Advisory Group, works as Chairperson and CEO. It was the first meeting of private sector group member companies to take place not only in Japan, but anywhere outside of Geneva, where UNISDR is based.
Yuki Matsuoka, who heads UNISDR’s office in Japan, took the opportunity to urge those present to strengthen their own business continuity planning and to help other companies do the same, to strive for greater collaboration amongst various stakeholder groups to reduce disaster risk, to build community resilience, and to disseminate their experience globally.
Wu called on the new members to collaborate to strengthen the PSP, drawing on her own experience over the past four years.
This new injection of members means that the Japan arm of the PSP now has a wealth of experience and knowledge at the forefront of reducing disaster risk across numerous sectors. Come the World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in March 2015 in Sendai, Japan, they will be ready and willing to share their accumulated expertise with delegates and stakeholders from around the world.
List of 14 Japanese PSP member companies (the first 11 companies participated organizations in this gathering)
1. IBM Japan
2. InterRisk Research Institute & Consulting Inc.
3. Japan Conservation Engineers
4. Keidanren (Japan Business Federation)
5. Kokusai Kogyo Co., Ltd.
6. Mitsubishi Research Institute
7. Shimizu Corporation
8. Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance
9. Wellthy
10. Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance
11. Giken
12. Development Bank of Japan
13. Japan Innovation Network
14. Japan Tourism Marketing
For more information on harnessing the strengths of the Japanese private sector for disaster risk reduction, please visit: http://www.unisdr.org/we/inform/publications/33594