INTERVIEW: Kansai Biz Chief Vows Full Casino Effort

May 23, 2018

Osaka- The local business community will spare no effort to bring a casino resort in Osaka Prefecture, Hiroyuki Ikeda, new chief of the Kansai Association of Corporate Executives, better known as Kansai Keizai Doyukai, said in a recent interview.

The so-called integrated resort "should attract investments worth trillions of yen and create tens of thousands of jobs," Ikeda pointed out.

The Osaka prefectural and city governments are eager to be permitted to build such a resort after a law to legalize casinos is enacted and takes effect, expecting the facility to serve as a driving force for revitalizing the economy in the Kansai region, including the western Japan prefecture and city.

Osaka will host a Group of 20 summit next year. It also has launched a bid to host the 2025 World Exposition.

"What we proposed in the past are steadily moving ahead," Ikeda, deputy chairman of Resona Bank, said. "We need to keep taking measures to help the region grow."

Ikeda heads Kansai Keizai Doyukai together with Akihiro Kuroda, chairman of Kokuyo Co. <7984>.

Ikeda stressed the significance of the group, saying: "Doyukai is the organization that allows corporate managers to freely make proposals. By constantly being vocal, it can exert some influence on politics." Jiji Press