Aso to hear opinions from over 100 experts on economy-boosting steps+

TOKYO, March 2 Kyodo - Prime Minister Taro Aso will hold a three-day emergency meeting beginning March 20 to hear opinions from more than 100 experts, including business leaders, economists and academics, on ways to escape the economic crisis, government sources said Monday.
Aso, Finance Minister Kaoru Yosano and Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura
will attend the meeting to be held at the premier's office, with other Cabinet
ministers taking part depending on about 10 themes to be covered, the sources
said.
Popular Osaka Gov. Toru Hashimoto and Heizo Takenaka, a former economic and
fiscal policy minister who served as the main architect of economic reform
under former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, are among those who may
participate in the meeting, they said.
Representatives of consumer groups and the media are also expected to be
invited, the sources said.
The meeting will be broadcast live on the Internet as the government hopes to
demonstrate its resolve to tackle the economic crisis by joining forces with
the private sector, academics and local government leaders.
The envisaged meeting will deal with finance, employment and human resources,
and local autonomy and economies on March 20, agriculture and land, social
security, consumer and child-raising issues, and labor issues related to female
workers on March 21, and the environment, research and development, and
infrastructure for growth on March 22, the sources said.
The government has no plans to compile a report on measures proposed at the
meeting. Instead, it plans to flesh out effective proposals and reflect them in
its economic policies, the sources said.
''If there are good ones, they may be included in the planned additional
economic package,'' said a source close to the premier. ''We will seek unique
opinions free from traditional ways of thinking.''
Aso plans to ask the ruling parties to compile a new package of economic
measures in early March.