韓日の架け橋役３０年、電通の成田豊最高顧問

韓日の架け橋役３０年、電通の成田豊最高顧問

日本最大の広告代理店、電通の成田豊最高顧問（７９）が韓国政府から修交勲章光化章を贈られた。３０年にわたる韓日文化交流事業を積極的に後援した功労だ。

権哲賢（クォン・チョルヒョン）駐日大使が２４日に駐日韓国大使館に成田顧問を招いて勲章を授与した。修交勲章光化章は国権伸長や友邦との親善など国益増進に寄与した人に授与されるもので、外国人に贈られる最高等級の勲章だ。

勲章を授与された成田顧問は、「韓国の国歌であるムクゲの花言葉は尊敬だと聞いた。互いに尊敬する心を忘れないことこそ未来の両国民を強く結びつける基本だと確信する」と感想を述べた。また「韓国は私が生まれ青少年時代を送ったところで、一度も忘れたことはない」と話した。

１９２９年に忠清南道天安（チュンチョンナムド・チョナン）で生まれ、中学３年を終えるまで韓国で少年期を送った成田顧問は、鉄道業に従事する父親とともにソウルをはじめ各地で生活した。「いまでも夏には北漢山（プッカンサン）に登り、冬には漢江（ハンガン）でスケートをしたことをはっきりと覚えている」と振り返った。

成田顧問は８８年のソウルオリンピックと９３年の大田万博開催当時に協賛企業募集に寄与したほか、韓国が遅れて招致に乗り出した２００２年のサッカー・ワールドカップと関連しても両国の友好増進に向け韓日共同開催を主導した。２００５年からはソウルで毎年韓日サッカー大会を開催するなど多彩な韓日文化交流事業も主導してきた。昨年９月にソウルで開かれた韓日交流おまつりでは日本側実行委員長を務め行事を成功裏に進める実践力も誇示した。

成田顧問は本業の広告分野でも韓日協力を主導した。９７年に国内の広告会社のフェニックスコミュニケーションズと共同で韓日フォーラムを開催し、国内広告業界・メディアとの連係を図った。２００６年には韓日など８カ国・地域で構成されたアジア広告業協会を設立し初代会長に就任した。２００７年の第４回アジア広告業協会総会の済州島（チェジュド）での開催も成田顧問が主導した。金浦（キムポ）空港と羽田空港を結ぶシャトル便の就航も成田顧問の寄与が大きく作用した。

勲章授与式後に権大使が開催したレセプションには森喜朗もと首相ら日本の著名人が多く出席した。

中央日報　Joins.com

2009.03.25 08:53:13

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Swiss secrecy laws had nothing to do with the Nazis

Published: March 26 2009 02:00 | Last updated: March 26 2009 02:00

From Mr Bruno Gurtner.

Sir, Your correspondent writes, in his article about Swiss bank secrecy (“A vault unlocked”, March 24), that Swiss secrecy laws “date back to 1934, when they were enacted partly to protect German Jews and trade unionists from the Nazis”. This is a big myth. The argument about it being set up to protect Jewish money first appeared in the November 1966 Bulletin of the Schweizerische Kreditanstalt (today Credit Suisse). The main reason bank secrecy was strengthened in 1934 was a scandal two years earlier, when the Basler Handelsbank was caught in flagrante facilitating tax evasion by members of French high society, among them two bishops, several generals, and the owners of Le Figaro and Le Matin newspapers. Before that, there was professional secrecy (such as exists between doctors and their patients), and violation was a civil offence, not a criminal one as it is today. Swiss bank secrecy has always been an effective way to attract foreign money.

Many Swiss people are delighted that our country is going to stop blocking the exchange of information with other jurisdictions and will now follow Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development standards. For Switzerland this is a huge step. Other important steps must follow, to tackle other loopholes in the offshore world, such as those provided by British trusts and by other damaging facilities offered in Britain’s Crown Dependencies.

Bruno Gurtner,
Chair of the Global Board,
Tax Justice Network,
Bern, Switzerland

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AIG executive resigns on pages of NYT

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A top executive with the insurance giant AIG resigned Wednesday via an opinion article in the New York Times, bitterly complaining of being "betrayed" by company management and "unfairly persecuted" by politicians. Skip related content
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Jake DeSantis, an executive vice president with the American International Group?s financial products unit, addressed his open letter to AIG CEO Edward Liddy.

"We in the financial products unit have been betrayed by AIG and are being unfairly persecuted by elected officials," DeSantis said. "In response to this, I will now leave the company and donate my entire post-tax retention payment to those suffering from the global economic downturn."

DeSantis, who said he was proud of his 11 years of work at AIG, said: "I was in no way involved in -- or responsible for -- the credit default swap transactions that have hamstrung AIG."

Nor were most of the remaining employees in the division, he said.

"Most of those responsible have left the company and have conspicuously escaped the public outrage," he wrote.

After receiving more than 170 billion dollars in federal bailout money, AIG handed out 165 million dollars in bonuses to top executives, unleashing a firestorm of criticism among the US public and on Capitol Hill.

DeSantis said that Liddy is "aware that most of the employees of (the) financial products unit had nothing to do with the large losses. And I am disappointed and frustrated over your lack of support for us.

"I and many others in the unit feel betrayed that you failed to stand up for us in the face of untrue and unfair accusations from certain members of Congress ... and from the press over our retention payments," DeSantis wrote.

DeSantis wrote he is donating his 742,000 dollar-plus retention bonus "directly to organizations that are helping people who are suffering from the global downturn."

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Business
Gazprom sets up joint venture for gas sales in Italy
17:49 | 25/ 03/ 2009

Print version

BERLIN, March 25 (RIA Novosti) - Gazprom has bought a 50% stake in A2A Beta S.p.A. from Italy's A2A Alfa S.r.l. to create a joint venture to sell gas on the Italian market, a Gazprom spokesman said on Wednesday.

The deal was struck by Gazprom's subsidiary, Gazprom Germania, which trades natural gas from Russia and Central Asia in Germany and Western Europe.

"Consequently we have put into practice previously reached agreements to establish a joint venture with the aim of selling natural gas on the Italian gas market," Gazprom Germania spokesman Burkhard Woelki said.

A2A Alfa S.r.l. is 70% controlled by a group of Italian companies, A2A, while the remaining 30% is held by Iride. Gazprom Germania is represented in the deal by its subsidiary ZMB GmbH.

The joint venture is expected to enable Gazprom to sell about 900 million cubic meters of gas on the Italian market annually.

A2A is a leading energy company in Italy, selling 6 billion cubic meters of gas annually. Iride Group sells about 2 billion cubic meters annually.

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Russia, Turkmenistan fail to sign pipeline agreement
16:31 | 26/ 03/ 2009

Print version

MOSCOW. (Sanobar Shermatova, member of the RIA Novosti Expert Council) - The Moscow visit of Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov on March 25 has clarified relations between the two countries.

Turkmenistan, a country in Central Asia, has huge reserves of natural gas, which its neighbors need to meet their energy requirements. But what does it need from Russia?

Russia's policy in Central Asia is focused on gaining access to its energy resources. The Caspian pipeline project, which Vladimir Putin negotiated with Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, badly needs Turkmen gas to become effective.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev hoped to sign an intergovernmental agreement on building a West-East pipeline across Turkmenistan, which would have advanced the project lobbied by Moscow to a new level.

Under the plan, the pipeline would link deposits in northeast Turkmenistan to the Caspian Sea.

However, the sides have not signed the agreement, and details of the two presidents' talks point to problems with financing the West-East pipeline.

Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko will soon go to Ashgabat to finalize the agreement, which is to be signed during the president's next meeting, Russian presidential aide Sergei Prikhodko told the media.

Although the project has been put off, it is unlikely that Moscow has lost it.

Turkmenistan is currently formulating a strategy of national development. The Moscow visit by its president should be viewed against the backdrop of his official visits to Kazakhstan in May 2007 and Uzbekistan in February 2008. The latter two countries proposed their own schemes for consolidating the Central Asian countries, where Turkmenistan is assigned a special role.

Ashgabat is cleverly evading the attempts of its large neighbors to draw it into the zones of their influence, which highlights the country's political priorities. Turkmenistan's relations with Russia will differ from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan's relations with the Kremlin.

However, a rapid rapprochement between them is unlikely. Evidence of this is the refusal to accept a simplified visa regime proposed by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov. Sources say the new regime was only planned to facilitate visits by Russian businessmen.

The complicated consular procedures could be eventually simplified. But nothing is done quickly in Turkmenistan, which abides by the golden rule: Why run when you can walk?

The hierarchy of Turkmenistan's priorities, where Russia so far holds the top spot, will be certainly complemented by other partners. Turkmenistan could also review its associated status in the CIS. Recently, it proposed holding the conference of the Council of the CIS Foreign Ministers in Ashgabat, which may be good news for its neighbors.

The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.

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Russia, Ukraine still arguing over Black Sea Fleet
12:52 | 25/ 03/ 2009

Print version

MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti military commentator Ilya Kramnik) - Russia and Ukraine have been arguing over the Sevastopol-based Black Sea Fleet for a long time.

In the first years following the break-up of the Soviet Union, the two countries, both legal successors to the U.S.S.R., wrangled over the distribution of warships, bases and other naval property.

Although the Black Sea Fleet was divided in 1997, Moscow and Kiev did not ratify the relevant bilateral agreements until March 24, 1999. Moreover, both sides continue their heated arguments over the fleet's future.

The struggle for the Black Sea Fleet's future began on April 5, 1992 when the then Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk signed a decree On Urgent Measures to Develop the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

The document placed the former Soviet Black Sea Fleet under Kiev's jurisdiction. There were also plans to establish the Ukrainian navy on the basis of the fleet's elements deployed in Ukraine. In effect, this implied that Kiev would be able to control the entire Black Sea Fleet. However, the Ukrainian government had no right to make this decision.

At that time, the Black Sea Fleet was part of the Joint CIS Armed Forces and the CIS Navy, commanded by Fleet Admiral Vladimir Chernavin.

On April 7, 1992, Russian President Boris Yeltsin issued his own decree placing the Black Sea Fleet under Moscow's jurisdiction. The Kremlin proposed settling the crisis through negotiations. Both Kiev and Moscow suspended the aforesaid decrees for the duration of the talks.

Protracted diplomatic bargaining was hindered by Kiev's efforts to persuade Black Sea Fleet personnel to swear allegiance to Ukraine, to establish control over the fleet and to present Moscow with a fait accompli.

On May 28, 1997, the final intergovernmental agreements on the status of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, the terms for its deployment in Ukraine, fleet-division parameters and mutual settlements linked with the fleet's division and deployment in Ukraine were signed in Kiev.

At present, the Black Sea Fleet comprises 50 warships and motor boats, as well as several dozen auxiliary ships. The number of fleet-aviation and coastal-defense units has dwindled manifold.

The fleet, which used to dominate the Black Sea and to vie with NATO forces in the Mediterranean Sea, is now smaller than the Turkish navy but larger than all other Black Sea navies put together.

Black Sea Fleet warships do not sail to the Mediterranean Sea on a regular basis, while the situation along Russia's southern borders has been aggravated. In August 2008, the fleet had to conduct combat operations during the Five Day War with Georgia.

The Ukrainian navy did not profit from warships received after the Black Sea Fleet's division. An overwhelming majority of them were soon scrapped, while the rest are considered unsuitable for service.

Nevertheless, political debates on the Black Sea Fleet continue unabated. Ukrainian nationalists and their supporters are demanding that Russia withdraw its warships from Sevastopol as soon as possible and do not want to discuss the possible extension of the naval base lease contract after 2017.

Although various Russian politicians and movements are also trying to score political points on the Black Sea Fleet issue, many of them do not care much about defending Russia's southern borders.

The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.