The recent earthquake and tsunami in the Tohoku region has caused immense damage to social infrastructure across large areas of northern and eastern Japan. Hitachi Cable Group facilities in Tohoku and plants and sales offices in Ibaraki prefecture have also been damaged but we are recovering strong and swift. To be appointed President at a time like this, I feel a renewed sense of commitment regarding my grave responsibilities.

Under our medium-term management plan, Plan "BRIDGE," which we started in fiscal 2011, the Hitachi Cable Group has been focusing on the infrastructure business to deliver growth in the future. Although this unprecedented disaster has made our operating environment more challenging, we must fulfill our responsibilities as a social infrastructure provider. We must do our best to execute the fundamental policy, as presented in the medium-term management plan, of restoring the Group's status as a highly profitable enterprise and reshaping it into a truly global entity. To this end, we must be strengthen our business foundation by focusing on profitability, changing our corporate structure, and focusing on key businesses. Particularly, I wish to emphasize the following themes.

First, all of us must be aware of our individual roles and deliver products and services that meet the needs of customers and markets. If we are to prevail amid competition in both the Japanese as well as global markets, it is essential that all of us must act on our own initiative at every stage of the value chain, from marketing to R&D, design, materials procurement, manufacturing, and quality assurance. All of us must therefore take his/her own initiative to accurately assess market needs and competitive trends and offer products and services that match the needs of customers and markets.

Second, we must swiftly change ourselves to ensure our success and survival amid global competition. In recent years global competition has accelerated. Companies of developed countries are shifting production bases to emerging nations. They are also boosting their profitability by investing in high value-added products and improving their productivity. To secure opportunities and survive amid this rapidly changing environment, we must plan our strategies in anticipation of future market needs and technologies and speedily adopt ourselves to those changes.

Third, we must maintain our commitment to practicing the "Basics and Ethics." As a member of society, we must never forget the "Basics and Ethics," whenever and wherever. We must redouble our efforts to fulfill our corporate social responsibilities (CSR), i.e. comply with laws and regulations, protect the environment, ensure safety, respect human rights, protect the security of information.

Based on these themes, I commit myself to devote all my energies to restoring the Hitachi Cable Group's status as a highly profitable enterprise and reshaping it into a truly global entity. I therefore ask for your full support and cooperation.