JAPAN WILL ASK COMPANIES TO BOOST IMPORTS

  Japan's Minister of International Trade
  and Industry, Hajime Tamura, will meet representatives from 151
  of the nation's largest companies next week and appeal to them
  to do their best to increase imports, ministry officials said.
      The meeting was unveiled as part of a plan to boost imports
  and help head off protectionist legislation in the U.S.
      Senior officials from the Ministry of International Trade
  and Industry told reporters that such personal appeals appeared
  to have paid off in the past, as Japanese imports of
  manufactured goods have climbed.
      Leading domestic semiconductor makers will boost imports
  and cut production of key memory microchips next month in an
  attempt to help ward off U.S. Trade sanctions, company
  spokesmen said.
      The officials also said they expect the government's new
  trade insurance law to boost imports and encourage Japanese
  companies to set up production facilities overseas.
      Under the new law, the government will insure Japanese
  companies who pre-pay for imports against loss arising from
  everything from war to bankruptcy of the foreign firm they are
  dealing with. MITI estimated that it would help solve Japan's
  trade problem to the tune of about $10 billion dlrs a year.
  

