The government plans to strengthen Japan's small cargo distribution system in East Asia by 2009 to make it more globally competitive and environmentally safer, officials said Tuesday.
The plan was outlined in a draft of the revised policy outline on the distribution system, which also calls for cuts in carbon dioxide emissions to meet Japan's obligations under the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, which took effect in February.
This is the second time the government has revised the policy outline. The initial policy outline, first revised in 2001, was introduced in 1997 to cut the high costs created by Japan's complicated distribution system, which has lost its advantage to other Asian countries over the years.
The government says the need for small-lot distribution has risen in East Asia, primarily for shipping electrical parts made in Japan to factories.