Frank Murkowski: “as President Clinton prepares for his summit with Prime Minister Hosokawa later this week, I want to make several points…”

“as President Clinton prepares for his summit with Prime Minister Hosokawa later this week, I want to make several points about the framework negotiations on insurance. First and foremost, the United States must not accept an agreement which fails to provide genuine competitive opportunities for American companies in Japan. An agreement for its own sake would be a serious mistake, and unacceptable to this Senator. A bad agreement would be worse than no agreement at all. It is critical for the administration to follow through on its publicly stated goal of a results-oriented insurance agreement with Japan. The MOF and Japanese insurance companies must understand that our Government's support for the United States insurance industry is real. The Japanese Government and insurance companies must no longer be allowed to discriminate with impunity against United States insurance interests. Foreign insurance companies currently hold less than 3 percent of Japan's market. In other OECD countries, the foreign share is at least 10 percent, and up to 33 percent. If Japan's insurance deregulation program is to be truly meaningful, foreign firms must be allowed to compete in a fair manner, and the limited progress made to date by foreign firms must not be sacrificed in the name of deregulation. On the contrary, this progress should be fostered, so Japanese consumers, both individual and corporations, can enjoy the benefits that deregulation is intended to generate.”