Document 3dgVdzZ5760YrEvn21rjRBn

TCSGH- 9/1/92 pi Mr. Toshiaki Yamaguchi, Chairman TOSOH Corporation (nj) OPENING REMARKS BEFORE THE TRIPARTITE CONFERENCE ON PVC Thank you ......and good morning. ... My name is Toshiaki Yamaguchi, current chairman of the Japan PVC Association. I would like to thank all of the delegates and honored guests assembled here today for giving me the opportunity to speak before the First Annual Tripartite Conference on PVC in Washington D.C. Last year, in October of 1991, my predecessor, Mitsuo Mukaiyama proposed the creation of a "tripartite conference" to both the ECVM and the Vinyl Institute -- to which they agreed...... And here today we have the great pleasure of marking the first such PVC conference. I would like to thank all of the members of ECVM and the Vinyl Institute, and all others whose painstaking efforts have led to the creation of this important event. This is indeed a momentous occasion. SPl-07362  TCSCH-- 9/1/92 p2 Today's gathering follows in the footsteps of yet another important conference, the Rio Earth Summit -which attempted to deal with global environmental problems. Together the entire world recognized the Rio summit as a necessity, and the beginning of a greatly needed international partnership to prevent the destruction of our planet. The challenge of ensuring sustainable development is a difficult one, but together all countries attending the Earth Summit set upon a basic course to achieve this end. The underlying tenet of Sustainable Development is that economic development and environmental protection are both guaranteed. To achieve this goal, however, the world's businesses and industries must voluntarily take the initiative. They must demonstrate that economic development and environmental preservation are not incompatible. In this regard, we are here today to address and solve a variety of environmental problems, such as the problem of plastic waste disposal. This is an emotionally charged issue, where misconceptions about the usage and disposal of PVC overshadow the SPI-07363  TCSCH 9/1/92 p3 benefits of this plastic, and threaten the survival of our industry. We believe that the reason for this situation is due greatly to the fact that the necessary scientific information relating to plastic waste disposal has not been sufficiently provided to the public. For this reason the Japan PVC Association and the Japan PVC Recycle Promoting Council are working to develop new recycling and incineration technologies, and distributing useful information on PVC and its waste to the Japanese public. Further, in order to more effectively wrestle with PVC's environmental problems, international cooperation is absolutely necessary. That's why this conference is important. We cannot solve these problems by simply confining them to the national level. I believe that we, the delegates from America, Europe and Japan present here today, can come up with rational and realistic ways of solving the problems associated with PVC. We can begin by exchanging information about the difficulties our respective countries have with PVC, SPI-07364  TOSOH 9/1/92 p4 as well as discussing what countermeasures have been taken to solve these issues. I am certain that this 1st Annual Tripartite Conference will bear fruitful results. Together all of us have embarked on a path toward sustainable development. By striving to solve each PVC environmental issue step by step, our accomplishments here during this conference will enable us to educate and better justify PVC's usage to our consumers and the world public. And, I believe we can then look forward to further development of the world's PVC industry.... a growth that will be compatible with the preservation of our planet Earth. SPI-07365