President’s Greetings



	Last year a strong sense of economic stagnation spread around the world from Europe. Japan too was unable to break free of this feeling of stagnation. It was also a year in which, in the midst of all this, KITA gradually proceeded with reforms based upon our seven management guidelines. I promoted these management guidelines whilst bearing in mind these two questions: "What are KITA's assets?" and "What is typical of KITA, and what are the advantages of being based in Kitakyushu?" We made steady progress in maintaining our basic IT infrastructure, employee diversity, securing transparency based on our change to a public interest incorporated foundation, and disclosure. Whilst providing technical support programs suited to local needs via KITA activities connected with policies that take Kitakyushu's environment as their yardstick, particularly the policies of the Kitakyushu Asian Center for Low Carbon Society, and with new JICA issues and objectives, we also underwent a qualitative transformation while preserving KITA’s founding principles. These activities were based around action such as business matching, and the design of courses to contribute to the developing countries focusing on such themes as environment improvement and the realization of low carbon societies, as well as courses that may help small and medium-sized companies in Kitakyushu and nearby areas to expand globally. I am thus launching new management guidelines to make this a year in which we shift from reforming our basics to reforming our quality. 　 Maintaining our seven management guidelines, this year we will concentrate our activities on five management guidelines. 　 1. Intensify the surveying and finding of overseas needs and the building of networks with overseas (1) The finding and sharing of needs by cooperation with JICA and related administrative divisions of Kitakyushu municipal government (2) Research and collation of overseas needs, and regularization of planning for those activities (3) Construction of networks with overseas participants in our training courses (use of an overseas human resources training database) 2. Enhance and improve training and technical cooperation projects (1) Closer coordination between KITA divisions (2) Establishment of a system for coordination with JICA and related administrative divisions of Kitakyushu municipal government (3) Formulation and implementation of an annual action plan 3. Get KITA's current account balance firmly into the black (1) Improve the accuracy of KITA's income and expenditure plan, and establish a mid-term forecast (2) Secure profitability in each KITA division 4. Promote a three year plan for the maintenance of our IT infrastructure (1) Implement and make efficient use of a three year plan 5.Establish ourselves as a public interest incorporated foundation: secure transparency and disclose information With this I intend us to further invigorate KITA and to make an even greater contribution to improving the status of Kitakyushu and Japan.
	(This "Policy of Management" is posted on KITA NEWS No.14 to be published in April, 2013)
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