First of all, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to all our member organizations and related parties for their continuing support of and cooperation with our association.

 Looking back over the last year, in Japan the classification of Covid-19 was changed in May to "Class 5" under the Infectious Disease Control Law, which is the same as seasonal influenza. As a result, it was a year that saw the start of a return to our pre-coronavirus lives and a recovery in economic activity, including the resumption of events that had been canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic and a recovery in the number of foreign tourists. Over the three years from FY2020 to FY2022, our member organizations have paid out over 400 billion yen of mutual aid money in response to Covid-19, supporting the lives of members and policy-holder who were infected, and fulfilling our role as the Kyosai business to provide peace of mind. From here on too, we have renewed our resolution that our role as the Kyosai business is to do our best to help stabilize the lives of members and policy-holders.

 In recent years, our country has not only suffered from earthquakes, but there have also been frequent occurrences of other large-scale natural disasters such as typhoons and torrential rains all around Japan, which has caused tremendous damage. Last year, from June onwards regions all around the country suffered damage from heavy rains and related disasters.
 We would like to express our deepest sympathies once again to everyone affected by these disasters.
 There are concerns that these natural disasters, which are thought to be caused by abnormal weather due to global warming, will occur more frequently from here on. This demands that national and local governments expand their infrastructure improvement efforts, along with we as individuals make preparations and evacuation plans to protect the lives of ourselves and our families.
 As organizations that place people at the foundation, cooperatives are deeply involved in the lives of their members who live in their area. We're fully aware that nowadays the role and expectations for the Kyosai business to prepare for the diverse uncertainties and risks that threaten our lives are growing ever greater.

 In regards to the social and economic environment surrounding the Kyosai business, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications' population estimates (as of October 1, 2022), Japan's total population decreased for the twelfth consecutive year, this time by 556,000 people, while the continuing declining birth rate combined with an aging population meant that the proportion of the total population that were elderly people aged 65 and over reached a record high of 29%.
 Technology is developing at a dizzying pace, with technological advances leading to self-driving vehicles and increasing sophistication in the use of artificial intelligence (AI) such as ChatGPT. In addition, there are also concerns about the negative impact on the economy from the steep rise in the cost-of-living due to the situation in Ukraine and Israel, and the sudden depreciation of the yen due to factors such as the increasing difference between domestic and foreign interest rates.

 It should be more important than ever in this turbulently changing environment that cooperatives engaged in the Kyosai business carry out business operations while taking their members perspectives into consideration, and that there is a need for each individual involved in the business to respond flexibly to this changing environment, along with recognizing once again the principles of the Kyosai business based on the mutual aid ethos, to meet the mandate of members and fulfil our role in society.

 In order to stay in step with our member organizations, and to further promote cooperation and coordination among the member societies, our association is engaged in conducting research and study activities as well as training seminars in accordance with our member organizations' needs, deals with policy issues such as legislation related to cooperatives, and we are doing our utmost to deal with consultations and complaints related to the Kyosai business as a certification body for alternative dispute resolution (ADR).
 This year, we once again ask for the continued understanding and support of our association's activities from all our member organizations and related parties.