In a variety of industries. Leveraging this position, we anticipate structural shifts in industries, including profit pool changes and responses to climate change and other global issues, and we seize the opportunities to reconfigure assets as an effective strategic option based on ROIC, business value, and other factors. In addition, the appropriate allocation of limited management resources is important to drive these initiatives. We will allocate funds based on our cash generation capabilities and strong financial base, and utilize our proprietary human capital platform, Bloom, which just launched globally this week on December 2nd, and intellectual capital platform, Value Creation Palette, and optimally utilize personnel and expertise across the group. Through these initiatives, we will build a business portfolio that drives sustainable growth. I will now talk in more detail about our initiatives to improve and expand our business portfolio and asset recycling. When selecting targets for investment, we place importance on initiatives in growth areas, the trusted relationships that we have fostered over many years with our partners and customers, and managing the scarcity of products and services. We have identified energy, transition, mobility, healthcare, and protein as growth drivers as we work to strengthen the competitiveness and expand earnings of both new investments and projects in which we are driving forward middle-game initiatives. Benefits of portfolio diversification is another key aspect. We maintain a good balance in our business portfolio by diversifying across regions, industries, and profit contribution timeframes, as well as the investment entry point such as early stage, growth stage, etc. These efforts have led to continuous improvements to continuity, competitiveness, asset efficiency, and scale of earnings, and to the improvement and expansion of our business portfolio. Asset reconfiguration is an important strategic option for business portfolio improvement. We continue to carry out annual portfolio reviews and carefully select investments and divestitures from a management perspective. We are driving forward strategic asset divestment based on ROIC, business value, and timing, and the pace of this has accelerated since entering the current MTMP. One result of the business portfolio improvement has been the progressive earnings-based expansion in each region and the development of a global, geographically diversified business portfolio. Now, this slide shows profit growth between FY March 2018 and FY March 2024 and profit ratio by region. Profit from Australia is included in Asia-Pacific. Each region has grown in a balanced manner in line with the overall expansion of Mitsui's profit. From the perspective of global growth potential and regional balance, we believe that we have made good progress in improving the diversified business portfolio. Our global metric structure, which is one of many features of Mitsui, has been functioning as an essential part of our regional diversification efforts. By leveraging this organizational structure to pursue cross-industry initiatives on a global scale, we are able to identify business opportunities around the world and better respond to country-specific risks. I will now introduce some specific growth drivers, the first of which is LNG. Mitsui has been engaged in the LNG business since the 1970s. We have pursued regional diversification as we carry out new investments and expand existing projects in step with rising LNG demand. This has allowed us to expand the earnings base of our LNG business while contributing to a stable supply. We believe that LNG will continue to play a role over the long term as a real solution within global energy transition. We will continue to expand our LNG earnings base by leveraging our partnerships and comprehensive strengths to capture scarce opportunities. Our second growth driver is mobility. In the mobility area, we have used our long-standing relationships with key industry players to expand our business globally. Automotive, industrial, and construction machinery, and ships are areas in which we expect to see sustained growth. In each of these areas, we will continue to form and expand business clusters, leverage our partnerships to capture quality projects, and deepen our collaboration with leading industry partners. Earnings in the mobility business, excluding one-time gains, have reached JPY 160 billion per year. Going forward, we will achieve further growth by strengthening the competitiveness of existing businesses through middle-game initiatives while forming and expanding business clusters through investments, including bolt-ons. The third growth driver is protein and healthcare. In wellness ecosystem creation, one of the three key strategic initiatives in our current MTMP, we have made good progress in strengthening existing businesses while forming business clusters around them. In the protein area, we have invested in shrimp farming and broiler businesses during the current MTMP period, and by linking these to our existing livestock aquaculture and feed businesses, we have formed an animal protein business cluster. Driven by population expansion and economic growth, especially in emerging economies, the demand for protein is expected to grow steadily. There are few religious constraints on the consumption of shrimp and chicken compared with other animal protein products, and market growth rates are high. Also, growth cycles are short, and they have good feed efficiency. We aim to increase our earnings by capturing the growing demand in emerging economies, as well as improving the production efficiency and expanding the scale of assets we have acquired through application of our expertise accumulated through feed and livestock businesses. In healthcare, IHH is driving the growth. We first invested in IHH in 2011 and became the largest shareholder after an additional investment in 2019. IHH's EBITDA has increased five times since our investment in 2011 due to an increase in the number of hospitals and beds, operational improvements, and cost reductions. IHH plans to increase the number of beds by 30% by 2028 and expects continued growth through the expansion and strengthening of its business portfolio. In addition, taking into account the accumulation and utilization of healthcare data in the hospitals, we are starting the creation of a pharmaceutical business that utilizes data. In the medium to long term, we plan to make this one of the pillars of our healthcare business. We are also working to expand the ecosystem from healthcare to wellness by bringing together Aim Services and other businesses in the food, science, and nutrition areas. We will tackle making comprehensive improvements in the productivity of each business, linking them to the hospitals and clinics, especially IHH, and aim to create and expand a wellness ecosystem. Mitsui has continuously expanded profit and cash flow while also enhancing shareholder returns. By implementing our growth strategy, we will achieve further expansion of cash flow and continuously enhance shareholder returns, thereby improving ROE and corporate value, and in doing so, we hope to meet the expectations of our shareholders. This concludes my presentation. Thank you. Thank you very much. We would now like to begin our Q&A session. If you do have a question, please state your name and affiliation, and please wait for the microphone. We will also entertain questions from those participating via Zoom. Please use the reaction function and click on the raise hand button. When your turn comes, we will state your name. Please unmute your microphone and turn on your camera. Again, state your name and affiliation before you state your question. One question per person. We would like to seek your cooperation. As well as in the interest of time, we may limit the entire time as well. We are using simultaneous interpretation today, so please keep your questions concise. If you have a question, please raise your hand. [Foreign language] So, only one question. I understand. So, I would like to ask about mobility growth strategy. So, when I look back, mobility, I think that PTL, you have to backtrack to PTL to find a major investment. So, Taylor & Martin, I think in the current MTMP, we confirmed that with the investment release. But from here onwards, in terms of profitability for mobility, and especially when you consider new investments, what is your goal and your focus? Thank you for the question. So, in the area of mobility with the current medium-term management plan, if you can remember the slides, there were three business clusters. And so, we have expanded this, and we are trying to expand this to perhaps eight or nine in the long term. So, where's the core? Perhaps it might be easier to explain by region or. So, North America, Canada, and the U.S. So, our mobility business there. So, automotive dealership service and finance combined. And we also have a commercial trucking business as well in North America. So, we have huge anticipations, and we do believe that this is a growth area as well. Now, for South America, Latin America, mobility business as well again is strong. Although each of the projects may be smaller in size, we believe that we can accumulate these projects to create bigger force. Now, when we look into Southeast Asia again, in alignment with each of the countries' growth speed, we would like to expand our menu, so to speak. And for next year and onwards, when we look into the horizon, I would like to state North America. So, there are specific mobility businesses where we can create a one-stop service option. And again, this is quite promising. So, we are looking at various possibilities. And if there is something that will meet our investment criteria, we would like to proceed for Taylor & Martin, I think was referenced as well. And that is, again, a very, very promising auction market as well. So, how can we enhance scale in our existing business will be the focus for us. And for construction machinery, especially Australia and Latin America, we do have some upgrades in the mining business, as well as we also have constructions involving new technologies as well. So, that will be also another area that we can embrace again, extending our menu. And ships is another mobility business that I would like to refer to. So, inclusive of fuel conversion and transfer. Our customers are expanding quite globally. They're extending their footprint. So, here in Asia, and we have very strong partners in the European region as well. So, we are expanding our base. So, with ships and vessels, there are various business models where we can mix and match and combine, and we would like to put emphasis on such business models as well. Thank you for the question. Thank you very much. Next question, please. [Foreign language] I'd like to ask one question, if I may. So, you talked about the Americas in the previous question. When we look at the rate of regional profitability, currently, well, we have Mr. Trump and the geopolitical risks that are heightened in many countries. So, what are your thoughts on the portfolio that you have at the moment, especially emerging countries? What are your perspectives on emerging countries when it comes to the different portfolios? Thank you very much for your question. As for your emerging markets, well, we have focused on emerging markets for some time. And there are volatility that are heightened in many regions of the world, but we have limited management resources, which are allocated to different emerging markets, which we have always done. However, our partnership with advanced countries is going to make possible risk control in emerging markets, and we will see risk being lowered, and that is a business model that we follow daily. Therefore, looking at our track record, this is what we like to continue to work on going forward. And you talked about the Trump administration at the beginning, but within the U.S., there are many projects that are forming a cycle within the U.S. So, I think those portfolios can be followed through in such countries. Of course, there are trade exchanges between different countries. The separation of the supply chain, we believe, is a risk, and many of our customers believe so as well. We do believe that is a risk, but we do propose alternative plans for our supply chains. So, I think there will be more opportunities for us to intervene going forward. We can take that as opportunities going forward so that we'll be able to add our functions in those areas, especially resources and energy that are scarce. As for next generation energy, there are ideal locational climate environments that we find in some of the countries, especially, for example, in Brazil. As we see transformation of issues globally, we will work with the Global South countries so that we can talk about the values that we can offer, because there are many potential values that can be found in those areas. That is the area that we want to focus on going forward. Thank you. [Foreign language] So, I do have one question. For the growth drivers, LNG, I think you cited as one of the elements for growth. Our LNG, as a Japanese company, I think that you have a strong or high ROI, which is good for you. The remaining is the Mozambique LNG and Arctic LNG 2, to be specific. I do not know what the status is. But for future growth, the Mozambique status, what is it like now? And for the other areas, why do you cite this as number one? Once again, if you can elaborate and clarify why LNG is this strong growth driver. Our LNG, thank you for mentioning that. For our LNG, we are working in conjunction with oil majors, and so we are on an equal foothold, which was quite advantageous for us. And it is quite a competitive project. It is a pillar business, which we would like to further promote. Now, Mozambique, you questioned. Total is the operator. We work with them, as well as the Mozambique government as well. So, we are confirming security, as well as to resume construction. We are in the midst of discussions at the moment. But the security state is improving day by day. So, we do have specific material checkpoints that we look into. And our intent is to resume construction as early as possible. Now, needless to say, if something is definite, we will make that announcement as quickly as possible. But again, we are moving to the direction that I just mentioned. Now, competitiveness in Mozambique, as well as the quality of the gas and the actual amount of reserve, is quite abundant. So, again, we would like to control the risks on site as much as possible. But Cameron-related activities in the U.S., and so that is high potential. We are planning to enhance. So, in terms of export approval, we have already received approval. So, in preparation for FID for the expansion, we are working with our relevant partners to reach an agreement. And again, once we have that final investment decision for expansion, then we can add on to further competitiveness. And so, this will also prove to be a strong pillar for a future LNG business. Thank you for the question. Thank you very much. It is almost time. So, with that, we'd like to end the Q&A. Thank you so much for your participation. Next, we would like to go into the panel discussion. [Foreign language] The panelists will be Kenichi Hori, our President and CEO, External Director Masako Egawa, and External Director Samuel Walsh. Mr. Walsh is participating remotely for today's session. The facilitator is from Nikkei Asia Group, Mr. Tanaka, Editor. For this panel discussion, we would like to proceed in English. For those of you in the audience, if in need, please utilize the interpretation device, and please confirm the slide as to how you should be using this device. Without further ado, can we begin? Good afternoon. I am from Nikkei. My name is Tanaka. I'm a News Editor for Nikkei Asia, an English version of Nikkei. Now, I'd like to switch over to English. The theme of this panel is governance, and especially the role of external board members. I would like to ask Mr. Walsh the first question. Mr. Walsh, Mitsui makes many global investments throughout the year. How do Mitsui's external board members oversee deliberation regarding these, especially large-scale investments? Thank you very much, Tanaka, for the question, and firstly, my apologies that I couldn't join you in person. I had a very good friend pass away, and I was asked to speak at the Yujiro funeral yesterday, so I was unable to join you, but I had planned to be there. Large-scale investments come to the board generally twice, sometimes more than that, and obviously, there's robust discussion at the board. In addition, before each board meeting, there is a pre-board briefing, and that allows the external directors to ask questions in detail about the project or about the financial return, the risk assessment and mitigation, health and safety, environment, and so on. Let me assure you, there's very robust discussion by the board. And the fact that it comes into the board twice allows the board to ask questions to refine the project or improve the project or enable the proposer to consider all of the issues that the board may be concerned about. But there is very, very robust discussion of every project that comes to the board. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Walsh. Egawa-san, do you want to add a comment on this topic? Sure. The pre-board meeting briefing sessions are extremely useful, as Mr. Walsh mentioned. In those briefing sessions, we have the opportunity to hear directly from managers who are handling the projects. So, we can ask very detailed questions. And it also gives us the opportunity to exchange views among the external directors. Another thing we do is a follow-up. For large-scale investments, Mitsui makes a point of reporting back the progress so that we can follow up the trends. So, that's also important for us monitoring large-scale investments. Thank you. Hori-san, do you want to add, or how are these external, sorry, board members' advice benefiting Mitsui in making these decisions? Let me say they're very beneficial for the management team. And in particular, the board discusses whether that particular project is fully aligned with our overall company strategy. And I think that is a key discussion point. Sometimes, there are projects whose size is not big enough for board discussion, but we would take it to the board anyway so that we could get useful input and make sure that we haven't missed anything. And I think those voluntary types of board proposals are also meaningful. And we thank the board. Thank you very much. Now, let's move on to the management metrics. I know that Mitsui has been focusing on return on invested capital for a few years. Now, Egawa-san, please tell us about the changes you've noticed due to the sort of more shift or the increased focus on ROIC management. Okay. Well, I noticed two changes. The first is, when I joined the board four years ago, the investment proposals which are brought to the board meetings included mostly the profitability-related KPIs, such as net profits, cash flow, or internal rate of returns. But today, those investment proposals include return on invested capital. So, there's a focus on capital efficiency. And the second change is the increased frequency on discussions on the portfolio. And we have a portfolio review regularly. And in those portfolio review sessions, we focus on capital efficiency. Since Mitsui's investments span diverse business areas and geographic regions, return on invested capital is a very useful measure for allocating resources, as well as strengthening investment discipline. Thank you. Mr. Walsh? Yeah, ROIC is an important measure. It enables the board to assess projects competitively to determine exactly how the project would perform. But it also enables us to look outside the company and look at the type of returns that are achieved elsewhere and compare our projects to that. Because quite clearly, we need to perform as being best in class. So, ROIC is a good measure. It's been backed up with the senior management incentives. So, there is a direct line of sight there for the management in ensuring that we achieve satisfactory return on invested capital. Thank you. Great. Thank you. And Hori-san, do you feel the external investors, since this is an IR day, do you feel the external investors are 100% aligned with your sort of vision of focusing on ROIC? Are they valuing? Yes. In our daily engagement with our investors, I think there is an understanding that Mitsui Management's use of key metrics is in line with the analytical tools that our investors have. And I think you could see in Mr. Walsh and Ms. Egawa's comments that it is a rigorous process in our board. There is a rigorous process in our board. And we try to compare our own projects with the best-in-class global projects. And the board discussion keeps us on our toes. And I think that is very important. That's what I would add. Great. Thank you. Mr. Walsh, now, obviously, you were in a boardroom when Mitsui executives are making big investment decisions, and what lessons can a Mitsui team or management team or the board member learn from its past investment that didn't go according to the plan? So, you know, sometimes there are these kinds of investments, and how are these influencing future investment decisions? Yeah, clearly, the due diligence part to putting a project forward is absolutely key to take into account every variable and every risk that we manage through the process, and occasionally, you're right, there are projects that don't meet our objectives. I can recall one where it was impacted severely by COVID and the fact that people were not traveling. I think the key lesson for the organization is how quickly we respond to the changing circumstances. What can we do to improve revenue? What can we do to reduce costs, and if we should consider divestment, that we move that along swiftly, so, I mean, I think the key learning from projects that are under duress is that we need to have a contingency plan put in place expeditiously. We need to do it as quickly and as effectively as we can so that we can improve the outcome, even though it may be a disappointing outcome. Thank you. Thank you. Egawa san? Yes. I also would like to add that at board meetings, we have lengthy discussions on lessons learned from those investments which didn't go according to the plan, and to make sure that such lessons are shared throughout the company. One example I heard is that Mitsui began investing in renewable energy at the very early stage, and since Mitsui was so early that the market did not develop according to a plan, and some of the investments did not go well, but based on those experiences, Mitsui created a special department to focus on this area and then make sure such lessons are shared throughout the company, and that created a basis for the company to launch an energy solutions business unit ahead of the other competitors, so when I heard that story, I understood that the company does a very good job of sharing the lessons learned. Thank you. And Hori-san, how do you sort of shift the course when the investment or the plan is not going as it was planned? Yes. Unfortunately, some of our projects, there are a few, but there are very few, but some do go through a workout situation. The environment has changed, and we need to adapt to it. And in these stress situations, what we do is we would be very open with the situation with the board. And we try to report almost on a real-time basis what is happening, what are the progresses that we are making, and the milestones so that we could, together with the board, make quick decisions that would cut the loss or that would minimize future losses. And we think that is very important. It is also important for our people on the ground. They know that management is behind them, and they also know that for certain situations, the board is behind them. This helps the flexibility and the dynamics of our workout team on the ground who are working in these distressed situations. Very interesting. Thank you. Both Egawa-san and Mr. Walsh, you've been serving on Mitsui's board for a long time and as an external board member. What are your expectations for new external board members, and what advice would you give to them? And let's ask Egawa-san first. Okay. What I try to tell the new directors, and there are actually four points. The first is Mitsui values the inputs and feedback from the external directors. So, therefore, we should be very frank with the opinions. The second point is that there's less hand-holding. For example, for these panel discussions, they gave us the questions and asked us to respond freely in our own words. And this is different from some Japanese companies which are very cautious and try to give us suggested responses. So, that's the second point. And the third point is that we should be proactive for obtaining information. Some of the major projects actually go back, have a long lead time, sometimes more than five or ten years. And when those projects come to the board meetings, the board material may not include very detailed historical background. In those situations, we should be proactive for obtaining information to fully understand the background. And the fourth point is that the site visits are very useful. Mitsui provides us opportunities to visit the actual sites overseas and then see firsthand what they are engaged in. And such visits give us the opportunity to speak to the people who are working on the ground or maybe partner companies and really give us in-depth understanding of the projects. And I expect from the other board members who are joining us as new directors, I expect very diverse views because we try to bring in diversity to the board members. And I actually enjoy discussions with them and learn a lot from them. Brilliant. Thank you. Mr. Walsh, advice and expectation for the new board members? Yeah, no, thank you very much. And I think Egawa-san has answered very eloquently. But let me just comment. A critical issue for new directors is to bring them up to speed as quickly as we can so that they can take a very active role in board discussions. So, for me in particular, my focus has been in supporting and encouraging and nurturing the new directors so that they feel comfortable in raising issues. Each director brings a specific skill set and then obviously general skills that directors have to encourage them that where they're an expert in an area for them to actually draw on that expertise. But also to ensure that there's an environment of nurturing and support of those directors so that we do have an active discussion. I've got to say that generally at board meetings, each external director gets to make a comment or wants to make a comment, and that's very helpful in terms of, as Egawa-san said, getting a diverse viewpoint, getting a diverse experience base behind talking about a project or talking about a tracking issue with the finance or the safety or so on, and that's important that we actually draw on that expertise. I've got to say that our directors do come up to speed quickly, and they do actively engage very, very quickly. Thank you. Thank you very much. Before we move on to the Q&A session, let me ask one last question, which is kind of interesting from a journalist's perspective as well. So, this is about green transition, and we write about this every day. We read about this every day. And as an external board member, how do you oversee investments in greenhouse gas reduction while maintaining profitability? Mr. Walsh? Yeah, look, that's an important issue for us going forward, and it's also part of our growth strategy, not only to assess projects that are put forward to the board, but also to track the overall performance in Mitsui's decarbonization journey, and certainly, that's something that the board is particularly focused on, particularly interested in, so every project that comes to the board, there is an assessment of that project's impact, either improvement or adding to our greenhouse gas, where the project stands in terms of that so that the board can actually assess our journey to reducing our greenhouse gas by 50% by 2030 and then reducing it to net zero by 2050. It is an important area, not just for Mitsui, but for the world, and we need to ensure that Mitsui performs its part. I do believe that decarbonization is a potential revenue and profit maker for the company. We can take a lead in terms of renewables, whether it's wind power or solar power, or just in terms of improving overall greenhouse gas reduction. Thank you. Thank you. Egawa-san, do you want to add? Yes. Mr. Walsh explained very eloquently. The only point I'd like to add is that for the executive compensation for the Mitsui, KPI for GHG impact is included in a long-term incentive. So, we monitor them very carefully. Thank you. Hori-san, do you want to add something? Yes. I'm very appreciative of the board because they have been allocating a lot of their time and efforts to this important discussion of climate change. Not only through individual projects, but through free discussions that we have from time to time at the entire board. We take time and we try to lay out a direction for Mitsui. Mitsui's efforts in managing traditional fuel in a cleaner and responsible way, but also at the same time pursuing economically viable projects for greenhouse gas reduction is quite important. We like to do both. It makes sense to do both. So, the combinatory efforts of our energy unit, the chemical molecules, infrastructure, biogenic material for next-generation fuel, all of these things are going to be combined. And the board discussion regarding this cross-industrial approach is very beneficial. Thank you. Great. We are a very good panel. We're right on time. Thank you, Mr. Walsh and Egawa-san and Hori-san, and we'll move on to the Q&A session. Okay. Hi. From here, we will now go into the Q&A session. If you have a question, please raise your hand. A staff with a microphone will come to you and ask a question. Before asking your question, please state your name and your affiliation. You may ask your question either in Japanese or English. It will be translated for Mr. Walsh, and the panelists can answer either in Japanese or English. Please limit your question to one question per time. We have a simultaneous interpretation provided, so please make your question as brief as possible. Thank you very much. The first question, please. [Foreign language] Thank you very much for taking my question. About the supervisory function of the board of directors is my question. Of course, investment discipline was mentioned, and of course, that may be the focus. However, of course, asset recycling profit is something that makes up a majority of the investments and profitability for a company. So, we need to be successful in projects to gain profitability. And sometimes ROIC may not go as planned, and we may have to withdraw from projection. What is the discipline for divestments? What is the initiatives taken by the board of directors for such withdrawal? That is my question. I think it's being translated now. So, Egawa-san, would you like to go first? As I mentioned earlier, as for large-scale investments at the BOD, what happens later? That is a report that we get as a follow-up, and we do close monitoring. And if the investment is not going as planned, what other initiatives or responses are necessary? That is being discussed as we do monitoring. I think timing is very important to make moves. So, if it's not going well, we need to maybe divest or look for a better partner, or there may be other initiatives that we can take. So, we need to make sure that we capture the right timing to make that kind of advice. Question? Mr. Walsh? Yeah, thank you very much for the question, and asset recycling is very important for the company, not only in terms of taking good profit opportunities, but as my colleague Egawa-san said, divesting of projects that are not tracking well. The board gets to see all of our portfolio during the year and see how projects are actually tracking. Not only the projects that come to the board for approval, but also once a year, we get to see every single project that is approved, i.e., those that are approved at Ringi below the board level, so that we can get an understanding of how the businesses are traveling. Clearly, asset recycling, it's an important part of our business. At times, we'll invest in something deliberately to add value to a project, to add value for divestment at a later date. That is discussed at the time when the board initially reviews the project. It is a very active process. As you mentioned, it is an important part of how the company operates. Thank you. Thank you. [Foreign language] Anything to add, Hori-san? Just one word. So, asset reconfiguration will help us bring the portfolio for better growth. And the board is in line with that direction. And specific discussions and verifications are all done all the time. I think that is the kind of activities that we're doing. Thank you. Any other questions? Thank you very much. One question. As Mr. Walsh said, as for the lessons learned from large-scale projects, how fast you can adapt to the changes in the environment is a key. And that is true also for the board. For the past few years, the diversification has been making progress in the board. So, as a team, how you can act fast and then enhance the enterprise value, what is it that you are mindful of in order to achieve that as a director? Mr. Walsh, please. Thank you very much. As CEO Hori-san mentioned, the board has free discussions, strategic discussions during the year, and that is aimed at ensuring that we are capable of moving fast. It enables management to put forward new initiatives to assess the board interest, but it also enables the directors to bring forward their proposals, their ideas in terms of how the company should be tracking. I think as a company, and I've been on a number of boards in my career, I think Mitsui can move very, very quickly. It is certainly very inclusive and engaging in terms of its decision-making process, but having said that, the company can move very, very quickly when that becomes necessary. Now, that's not to shortcut any proper governance or approval processes, but it's more to identify that I believe we have an aligned board and aligned management. That makes it much easier to bring forward proposals and to expedite the implementation. This doesn't mean that the board always agrees. There have been cases where the board did not agree, and the project was kicked into the long grass. That's a healthy process. As I said, we have an aligned management and board, and the executive directors and management, they understand that not every project is going to fly. Not every project is going to be something where the risk or the profitability or health and safety or other issues will be a key determinant in making the board uncertain about a project. Thank you. [Foreign language] Yes. May I ask for Egawa-san's comment? As Mr. Walsh said earlier, as board, the executive management made a decision to the board, and we can make some proposals for changes, and we asked some of the projects to change something, and the management, the executive management team, has listened to us quite intensively and made some changes, so that is the trust relationship that has been born between the board and the management, and then there is a psychological assurance that has been ensured through that process, and in the previous day to the board meeting, there was a pre-briefing. That's what I said, and external members, including supervisory and audit board members, so there were only external members there, so by going through discussions, this is almost like as if an executive session meeting without the executive management. We can get to know each other through this process. In this pre-briefing session and also the site visit that I mentioned earlier, those are the opportunities where we can spend a lot of time only with fellow external members. We can get to know each other quite well through this process. And that's what brings us a good teamwork. Thank you for the question. Any other questions? Just a person in the front row, please. Thank you very much. There's one question. The asset recycling or reconfiguration from March 2023, I think the process has been accelerated. For this change, has there been any advice from external members of the board? Was there any turning point to shift to this asset configuration facilitation? Maybe we ask Mr. Hori to answer this question first. Thank you for the question. There are two external members that will give us comment following me. As an internal director's perspective or management team, the asset recycling and reconfiguration is something that we have always on mind in managing portfolio. For the past few years, especially when it comes to divestiture or selling of assets, there have been more opportunities for us to do that. There have been larger projects that have increased. There's no specific change in our policy, but we have been able to capture those opportunities. The strategic initiatives have been established properly. In line with these strategic initiatives, we are shifting from the existing assets to more projects with more growth so that we can have more options. We have been having more sensitivity. I think the focus focal point and policy has not been changed. That's what we see as an executive management. I'd like to ask for the external members' comment. Well, as for the asset reconfiguration, there is a well-thought policy. And as Mr. Hori said, the management has been always mindful of that. And what stayed in my mind is divestiture of Paiton, which was very promising and important for Mitsui. So, in order to make sure that it won't become a stranded asset, when there was still room for growth, divestiture was considered. And when I just joined the board, that was already being discussed. Of course, they took time to actually complete the divestiture. So, the announcement has been made just recently. But this has been always on the thought. So, I think there is a high sensitivity for asset reconfiguration in the management. And as I said, portfolio review is being done properly. For all kinds of assets and all pieces of assets, whether they are profitable enough or whether you can ensure capital efficiency through those projects, there is a process to check each one of those projects. And then you would do the recycling. And Mr. Walsh, please. That's Hori and Egawa-san have made the appropriate comments. The only change in policy, per se, that I could see is, as Egawa-san mentioned, decarbonization has expedited our divestment of coal-fired power stations and some coal operations. So, I mean, there is a change there. But generally, this is just natural evolution of our portfolio, and that's a healthy process that is going on behind the scenes in terms of our review of our investment portfolio. Thank you. Thank you. [Foreign language] Earlier, Egawa, you cited Paiton as an example. I think in terms of GHG reduction, it has big meaning. You divested. The amount that you sold it at, it was not just reducing. I think that you consider the recouping of your investment as well. It was a reasonable price tag. When we consider GHG reduction, especially from the non-executives, there is a tendency in other companies that they pressure the management to just sell to reduce GHG. Within Mitsui, how do you position GHG and recycling of the assets? As was explained in earlier discussions, investment projects, divestiture projects, when we discuss at the board meetings, we look at the cash flow impact, we look at the P&L impact. On top of that, we also looked into the impact it brings about to GHG reduction. So, we combined that as well recently. So, we try to consider the balance. So, in general terms, I think that is the extent that I can respond. And I think that we do have to consider all of these avenues. So, minimizing the impact, we believe, in some projects, leads to the next growth opportunity. So, for us, it's not just about reduction or reducing such projects. So, again, we do try to strike that balance when we consider. And we have various diverse businesses in diverse regions as well. So, in terms of risk diversification, at what timing should what be done? So, that is also being discussed as well. And Walsh, would you care to add anything to that? I don't think that the external directors put unusual pressure on management to divest of assets. But having said that, we do take an active role in terms of looking at how we're going to meet our greenhouse gas reduction goals. And some of that will be reduction. Some of it will be new projects that actually improve our greenhouse gas generation. Yeah, CO2 storage, carbon storage, that's another opportunity for us to use research and technology to help us reduce our greenhouse gas emissions with our LNG projects. And there's a range of projects in CCS that is underway. Thank you. Thank you. Any other questions? A hand in the middle of the room, I see. Josh Bennison from Schroders. I'll take this opportunity to ask in English. So, Mitsui has done great with growth of profits, with increasing profitability and focus on ROIC, with improved capital allocation. And as shareholders, we've been rewarded for that. So, thank you. In some ways, that was kind of low-hanging fruit. Some of the there was no focus around that before. And so, it was an easy place to start and improve the company and improve corporate value. So, particularly as external board members, what factors do you think are the most important going forward to continue to improve corporate value and increase the share price? And I particularly mean that from internal factors. So, less about climate change or geopolitical risks, but internal things that can be changed where there are still some issues. [Foreign language] Yeah, as I mentioned before, it's absolutely critical to me that we compare ourselves to the world's best in whatever area we're working at. I know that there are some people that look at comparing Mitsui trading house versus other trading houses. Well, you can't actually do that because each of the trading houses have different portfolios. But more importantly, we need to be looking at who is the best practice in each segment that we're operating in and where the projects, whether they're future projects or current projects, where do they stand in terms of world best practice, and that's where we need to put the focus. That's where we need to ensure that we're better than competitive in terms of how we're taking the projects forward, in terms of profitability, in terms of the way that we're allocating our capital, in terms of our returns, and in terms of our risk management, how we're mitigating risk in the projects, and that very much is a focus for our company. Thank you. So, when I speak of future growth potential, I would like to mention the fact that we have this all-around competency and group synergy. I think that's the English word that we often use. And for trading firms, because we have such diverse businesses and we have a global footprint and network as well. And it's true that we are investing in more businesses as well. So, within each business segment, we do have to compete with competition in that arena. So, we focus on what will be the competitiveness or the competitive edge. Of course, looking at HR movements within Mitsui, they are strategic allocation of HR. And of course, they are trying to improve communication among the employees. And I believe that is working well compared to others. And within that process, there are projects that are taking on or reaping the benefits. I think that is leading to further growth. And next is energy solution. Of course, Mitsui has been very strong in energy. And they have a network with different clients. And they do have business partner networks as well. And utilizing that network, renewable energy and different energy solutions are being developed within Mitsui. And you talked about some internal factors earlier. So, when we talk about the challenges, of course, diversity may be a challenge that we may be facing. We do have a global business. However, on the executive level, I think we don't have non-Japanese. And listening to many discussions, there are many able people in different regions. So, if they can become and join the executives, I think the global network of Mitsui will be strengthened further. Mr. Hori, please. When we look at the next phase of growth of Mitsui, I do look at the uniqueness Mitsui has in its cross-industry approach, so we can combine various domain knowledge in providing a meaningful solution, and some of the best players in the world, we feel, are looking to us for that type of solution, so this is something that we are going to work on very hard. Another one that's unique for us is we have an interesting combination between businesses and emerging economies and also advanced economies. I think we have developed over the years a risk control mechanism that is probably one of our corporate characteristics, so we like to enhance that as well, and finally, we can take a project or a business model that works in one geography and take it to another area. That's something that's also unique to Mitsui. A good example would be what we're learning in the hospital platform in Asia. We have a long-term view that this practice is going to be eventually imported into this home country of Japan. So, those geographical movements, I wouldn't say arbitrage, but movements will also be key in the future. Thank you. [Foreign language] So, it is about time. So, we'd like to close this Q&A session. Thank you so much for your participation. [Foreign language] Thank you to all of you, and I'll ask the panelists to leave the stage. Thank you so much for your participation. Thank you. [Foreign language] Now, we'd like to take a break. We'd like to restart at 4:20 P.M. Japan time. Thank you very much. I'm delighted to welcome our partners BP, Mitsui, Shell, and TotalEnergies to the Ruwais LNG project, a project that is central to ADNOC's long-term growth strategy. This project will more than double our LNG capacity. It will stimulate socioeconomic growth for the UAE, and it will deliver a critical lower-carbon transitional fuel to the world. This is a fantastic project that brings together great partners and engineering to supply the energy our customers need. Ruwais LNG will use the latest tech for enhanced safety, improved efficiency, and reduced emissions. We're incredibly proud to be involved. By producing around 9.6 million tons of LNG per year, the Ruwais LNG project will play a pivotal role in providing global energy security. This crucial transition fuel will be exported to customers and provide access to a reliable, sustainable, and affordable source of energy around the world. With the shared vision to provide more and cleaner energy solutions, drive sustainable development, and deliver more value with less emissions, the Ruwais project illustrates how strong partnerships can create real progress towards designing and building the energy systems of the future. Each of us is willing to contribute to the success of Ruwais LNG and for this flagship project to strengthen our long-standing partnerships with ADNOC and the UAE. Together, we will tackle complex challenges with innovative and collaborative solutions to provide cleaner energy for local and international communities. Each of our strategic partners brings deep experience that will enhance the technical and operational capabilities of the Ruwais LNG project. Working together, we will foster an innovation-driven mindset and deploy the latest technologies, including AI, to optimize production, and we will supply the lower-carbon energy that the world needs, deliver on our ongoing commitment to provide energy for life, and prove that progress is powered by partnership. [Foreign language] I have gotten to know Yuki starting 2017 when he was first stationed in the Mitsui's Casablanca office. So initial discussions between our two groups, Yuki was present since the start. [Foreign language] In general, going to West Africa demands a lot of legwork that needs to be done ahead of any investment, and that's what we are doing together by exploring many countries. [Foreign language] [Foreign language] [Foreign language] [Foreign language] Thank you very much for waiting. We'd like to resume the session. Under the title of Continued Growth for ROE, we'd like to invite CFO and Senior Executive Managing Officer Tetsuya Shigeta to give us a presentation. Good afternoon. I'm Tetsuya Shigeta, CFO. Today, I'd like to talk about the sustainable growth of ROE at Mitsui. Specifically, I'd like to speak on our track record regarding the expansion of base profit and the strengthening of our earnings space through portfolio transformation. I believe that securing the repeatability and continuity of this track record will lead us to further growth in the future. Over the past decade, the challenges facing the world have become increasingly complex. Today, we continue to face challenging situations to navigate through, such as surfacing of geopolitical risks, increased volatility in financial markets, and changes in supply chain. Mitsui is quickly adapting to such changes and working to provide real solutions through our business to respond to ever-changing social issues such as securing a stable supply of energy and resources, the realization of a sustainable society, and a growing interest in well-being. In this environment, which is becoming increasingly uncertain, Mitsui has maintained a high level of financial discipline while focusing on both investments and shareholder returns in a balanced manner. Maintaining this high level of discipline has led to the current strong financial base that provides us with a variety of options as we aim for further ROE growth in the future. As part of our measures to improve profitability and increase ROE, we are driving forward our middle game initiatives, transforming our business portfolio, and optimizing our allocation of management resources, including human capital. Up until now, we have improved our earnings power through these measures, and by carrying them out with an even higher level of sophistication, we aim to achieve enhanced base profit, a major theme of the current Medium Term Management Plan, or MTMP. I would like to start by speaking on our track record in the mineral and metal resources segment. This table shows the changes in the mineral and metal resources segment from fiscal year March 2014 to fiscal March 2024. Iron ore prices are at a similar level as they were 10 years ago, but both profit and core operating cash flow have more than doubled. The backdrop to this is that while we have withdrawn from unprofitable businesses such as Caserones Copper Mine and Moatize Coal Mine, we have been expanding and making additional acquisitions of prime assets by seizing on rare opportunities that Mitsui is uniquely positioned to access, such as the development of multiple iron ore mines in partnership with BHP, the expansion of the Robe River iron ore project, including the related infrastructure with Rio Tinto and Collahuasi Copper Mine. Going forward, we'll continue to work on further strengthening our earnings space by increasing our prime resource-related assets to further fortify this already well-positioned business. Next, I will move on to the energy segment. Although the price of crude oil has been seen to fall over this 10-year period, the earning drivers of the energy segment gradually shifted from upstream operations to the LNG business, which includes LNG trading, and earnings grew upon the launch of the Cameron LNG project. We'll continue to strengthen the LNG business and LNG trading portfolios through the launch of projects such as Ruwais LNG and expand and grow our long-term earnings space. Furthermore, we'll also consider businesses that take advantage of opportunities to respond to climate change, such as the next-gen fuel businesses, and we'll continue to improve the quality of our business portfolio from medium to long-term perspective as we have done over the past decade. I will now speak on the innovation and corporate development segment, which we have received feedback on in the past regarding asset efficiency. This graph shows the results of our core affiliated companies in Japan. As of fiscal year March 2024, six of the eight companies have set new profit records and are steadily growing. For example, we conducted a takeover bid in fiscal year March 2015 for Mitsui Knowledge Industry, increasing our equity stake from just under 60% to 100%. Since then, the company has consistently increased its profits, except for fiscal year March 2022, which saw a decline after a sharp post-COVID increase in demand in the previous year. As for QVC Japan, its growth once plateaued in the early 2010s. We decided to deploy Mitsui personnel to be directly involved in the procurement of products that go on sale on the platform, which is the linchpin of the television shopping business. We're able to increase the number of well-known brands being offered, and in 2020, we succeeded in proving results to become the industry leader. Lastly, the real estate business tends to have a relatively low ROIC due to its business characteristics. Mitsui has started to utilize third-party capital and adopt a buy, develop, and sell model that turns over assets, and we have started to see positive results. In this way, we'll focus on thoroughly strengthening each business area and increase the performance of our core affiliated companies in Japan. I would like to take a step back and provide an overview of the progress made following our investment in 17 large-scale projects since the start of MTMP 2020, including those made in the three segments I have already spoken on. The pie chart on the right shows the status of these 17 projects, of which around 80% are either in line or outperforming compared to expectations set when the investment decisions were made. The vast majority of these projects were decided upon by the board of directors. Some projects are not progressing as expected, but we are working towards turning them around by focusing our human resources. We will then thoroughly analyze the factors that did not go as anticipated to make use of the lessons learned to improve our track record in the future. Please refer to Appendix 1 for details of the 17 investments and loans. Even after making an investment at Mitsui, we constantly work to improve the quality of our portfolio. The asset portfolio review, which is conducted in the middle of the annual cycle, is characterized by the fact that the holding policy for all investments is verified based on five review points, including profitability and effective utilization of human resources. Specifically, we review all assets, which as of end fiscal year March 2024 totaled approximately 1,780 and had a book value of approximately 10 trillion JPY. Of these, we are considering strategies including a potential sale for about 30% of the total number of projects, which equates to about 10% of the total book value, including profit-making projects and listed stocks. Listed stocks are reviewed, and the number of such holdings has decreased by about 40% from end fiscal year March 2014 to 92 holdings as of end fiscal year March 2024. We have divested several more holdings this year, and we are continuing to reduce this number. This slide shows trends in investment cash inflows and gains on asset recycling. The introduction of ROIC has had the effect of accelerating asset recycling, a trend which can be seen here. This, along with portfolio reconfiguration, has become a source of stable cash inflows. The latest forecast is that we will achieve approximately JPY 500 billion in cash inflows for fiscal year March 2025, a similar level to fiscal year March 2024. Through asset recycling, we are able to continuously allocate capital to areas with greater growth potential, leading to the active transformation of our business portfolio. In addition to capital, we also endeavor to optimize the allocation of management resources by reallocating personnel together with the reconfiguration of assets. Now, I will explain the financial strategy that supports our investments and business operations. Since MTMP 2017, Mitsui has been working to strengthen its financial base through cash flow management on the premise of achieving positive cash flow after providing shareholder returns. Since the start of MTMP 2017, we have maintained a positive cash flow over each three-year MTMP period, and the net debt-to-equity ratio has fallen significantly from around 0.9 x to 0.4x. In addition, the net debt-to-core operating cash flow ratio has fallen to 3.4 x, an indication that the company's ability to repay debt has improved. The current balance sheet is the result of disciplined management over the past decade, and it is precisely because of this that we are now in a position to consider a variety of options. We will continue to optimize our utilization of capital from a medium- to long-term perspective. Today, I explained the transformation of our business portfolio and the strengthening of our financial position by looking back on our past efforts, eyeing sustainable growth of ROE for the future. At the investor day we held two years ago, I talked about wanting to achieve double-digit ROE as a standard level, and in MTMP 2026, announced last year, we set a target of 12% ROE as a three-year average. First, we will endeavor to achieve this goal by producing solid results in the current and next fiscal years. At the same time, we will take measures that will contribute to the sustainable enhancement of ROE. In addition to financial results announcements, we would like to use opportunities like today's investor day to detail our track record and engage in dialogue with investors so that we can further earn your confidence in our management and growth potential. We ensure that your suggestions and comments received through our dialogue continue to be shared internally and utilized in order to improve the management of the company. That completes my part of the presentation today. We will now move on to Q&A. Thank you very much, Mr. Shigeta. Now, I would like to start taking questions. The microphone will be brought to you, so please identify yourself and your affiliation first before you ask questions. And those of you who are participating on Zoom, if you have questions, please use the reaction function at the bottom of the screen to raise a hand. And there's a simultaneous interpretation service being provided, so please be concise in your question. Now, are there any questions? Thank you very much. There's one question. In the presentation material, page seven, investment track record has been mentioned, and out of the 17, outperform was three. And underperform, there was one. There is no name named here, but in terms of lessons learned perspective, as was mentioned in the panel discussion. So aside from the specific name of the project, concretely, what have you learned and how have you reflected that in your future projects? Can you elaborate more on those lessons learned? Thank you for the question. So in Appendix 1, there is a high transparency in disclosing the names of the project, Renewable Energy Project, Mainstream Investment. In this project, in the most recent earnings results, there was some deficit loss that was recorded, so it has impacted the core performance. So we have had the opportunity to explain about this as well. But our renewable energy businesses, as a core platform, the Mainstream business is where we have made investment and took a stake, and solar and wind power and other ROE businesses that have been engaged in. But in the startup, the business in Chile, there were rules in local areas and environmental issues that faced us, so we struggled in our startup process and we are underperforming. So that's what we mentioned here. So in this project, of course, we are going to do the turnaround going forward. And in the globally deployed businesses where there are some strategic initiatives to be taken in some geographic regions, and we are now reviewing those regions. So we'd like to make sure the turnaround will go as planned. Maybe it's too early to look back on the lessons learned, but in terms of timing, renewable energy businesses and others were still right after making investments. The business environment is still challenging as we see the decarbonization trend, and those businesses tend to be struggling now. Looking back at the time of making investments, whether we had foreseen that or had we been too much ambitious in terms of enlarging the geographic regions, those lessons have to be built up and learned. More recently, among the past impairment losses that were recorded, we have built up some lessons learned, and that has been reflected in business models and partners or laws and regulations in the areas that we had made investments. Those are the items that had to be checked when we made entry into those businesses. This list has been put together, and we can share this insight internally, the Value Creation Palette that was mentioned earlier. This information is made available so that everyone can access inside the company. We're taking advantage of those lessons so that we will not lead to impairment losses again. We are gradually benefiting from those lessons learned. [Foreign language] Thank you. Any further questions, so I do have one question, and for some time now, I did have a pressing question. I would like to take this opportunity to ask this question. It's about your shareholder return policy, so you have your COCF and the ratio vis-à-vis COCF. I think it's 45%, a little north of 45%, and I think that is slated in your current midterm management plan, but when we try to understand the expectations, what is the remaining for management allocation, so it is not just core operating cash flow. Obviously, asset divestiture or cash in is another item line, I think, so you will reallocate your assets, obviously, and for the past few years, I think this has been a constant trend, and I do believe that this will continue in the near future as well. So the total cash in for Mitsui vis-à-vis the COCF-related shareholder return policy, I have a feeling that it is becoming more. The gap between the two is deviating more and more. So the shareholder return ratio, the return ratio is increasing, and perhaps we've more or less hit the ceiling, but you are still divesting your assets. So I know that this is a very broad brush question, but this total shareholder return as the CFO, if you feel that there are some challenges along the way or perhaps issues that you are considering, I would like to hear them. Thank you very much for the question. I hope that I can answer that question, but as of now, I would like to state our return policy. The basis for the policy is, as you say, core operating cash flow, so buyback and cash. This is the total return policy. For the cash dividends, we do not want to decrease. Within COCF, we focus on the stable arenas as the source. What should the percentage be or dividend per share? It will obviously fluctuate that number, but again, I go back to the base, which is the core operating cash flow as well as the return ratio. We will increase both and then overall increase the dividend per share. Now, as you mentioned, the buyback, there are areas that I cannot explicitly mention, but for instance, if an upside opportunity occurs or if a recycling opportunity occurs, and especially for recycling, it is embedded into our business approaches, and it's not something that happens every year. It does appear or happen over a specific amount of time, but we use that as a source to proactively return to our shareholders. And for this current MTMP and the previous MTMP, it still remains unchanged. And in September, we did a JPY 200 billion buyback, and some say that they were caught off guard. But again, I think that we were very proactive and flexible in taking that choice. Now, in terms of the ratio, when we consider the Japanese market, maybe some large companies, corporations outside of Japan aim for 100%, but here in Japan, I think we are closing in on the average for this market. But beyond that, which is the ROE, which is one of the themes of my session, and to enhance ROE in the future, expanding the return, an appropriate return is needed. And so what will be then the equity size to underpin that? We have to be careful about that as well. So I know that I'm not directly responding to your question. However, ROE is one pillar, and then we invest in growth, and then what should be the return that we acknowledge from that and make sure that we balance that with shareholder returns, which is the picture that we have in mind. And the most difficult is the fact that we have three or four elements and how we balance all of these elements. So, the level of returns we look forward to in the future, your candid comments as well. Thank you. Thank you very much. We are getting closer to the ending time, but there is still time to take one more question if there is any. Yes. Thank you. There's one question on page 10. So you said that you have some room, but this is something that is always discussed, but you haven't specified optimum leverage level. But then this morning, President said that by increasing leverage, even if there is a sacrifice on the profit, you could continue shareholder returns. But net D/E ratio, on the other hand, to what extent do you still have room to increase? Well, the investment is increasing, so I think risky assets are increasing as well. So to what extent do you still have room to enhance this level? And in other companies, so there is some leverage level that has been disclosed, but what is the leverage indices that you are mindful of? It's not just a DE ratio, but if anything else that you are looking at or watching, if you can share that with us, that would be appreciated. Thank you for the question, and as you said, and as we have shown, historically speaking, the minimum level, we have been reaching the minimum level. So financial health and soundness has been maintained, we believe, so as a priority, we are not seeing any necessity to further decrease this. But the total shareholder return that I mentioned and attractive investments for growth, whether we can engage in those, that has to be taken into account to hit the right balance, and as a result, it just turned out that as we make progress in our business performance, this ratio could further go down, so honestly speaking, this is something that we still have yet to address. Well, there are several financial indices like ratio as percentage of cash flow. The rating agency has been, seems to be watching, so we have mentioned those, but in any of those, we are now in a healthy status. There are many options that we can take, and we are prepared to look at those. There are those many options to allow us to look at attractive investments and also get closer to the level of shareholder returns that you're expecting. We have to hit the right balance. At this pace that we are running, well, there's still room to go down. However, in choosing new investments, there might be some adjustment made there. I cannot rule that out. Thank you. That has used up our time, so I would like to conclude the Q&A session. Thank you, Mr. Shigeta. Good afternoon. I'm Toru Matsui, Representative Director, Senior Executive Managing Officer in charge of energy business unit one, together with energy business unit two, basic materials business unit, performance materials business unit, IT and communication business unit, and integrated digital strategy division. This will be the last session of the day. I will speak about global energy transition initiatives, one of the key strategic initiatives in the medium-term management plan. In driving forward global energy transition initiatives, we are carefully selecting projects from three perspectives: enhancing portfolio quality, ensuring profitability, and reducing GHG. In order to respond to sways in response to climate change and energy demand, it is important to build a flexible portfolio that is resilient against various scenarios. Within this framework, we are conducting business development that makes the most of our strengths, focusing on three key areas: natural gas and LNG, next-generation fuels, and decarbonization solutions. Through this approach, we aim to achieve both a stable earning space and a reduction in GHG emissions. Next, I will speak on the positioning of LNG in the energy transition. Among the world's primary energy sources, renewable energy and natural gas are expected to grow in the foreseeable future. Although there are high expectations for renewable energy, there are constraints such as geographic location, weather conditions, daytime and nighttime new differential costs, etc., and so the importance of natural gas and LNG as a practical solution is being re-evaluated. In addition to economic growth in emerging countries, more recently, the global expansion of generative AI is expected to significantly increase the demand for power, such as for data centers, and again, the importance of natural gas and LNG is being re-evaluated as stable fuel sources to meet this new demand for power. The characteristics of our natural gas and LNG portfolio are that the regions and projects are well diversified. In our LNG business, we have 11 projects spread across eight countries with an equity share of production capacity of approximately nine million tons per year. In July, we made a final investment decision, as was mentioned earlier, or FID, on the Ruwais LNG project in the UAE. Also, FID was made last month on the Tangguh LNG additional development project in Indonesia. We will continue to diligently capture the upside potential of existing projects and strengthen our downside resilience. Additionally, we will steadily launch projects under development to enhance our earning space. Next, I will speak on our strategic initiatives across the entire gas value chain. We are contributing towards a stable supply of natural gas and LNG through various involvements, such as upstream interest in natural gas, LNG project interest, and LNG purchase agreements. We are deeply involved in the entire value chain, from fuel supply to power generation, and are contributing to the sustainable supply of energy. For example, at Fukushima Natural Gas Power Plant, in addition to participating in the power generation business, we supply LNG as fuel to support a stable supply of competitive energy. We are building an LNG trading portfolio based on diversified LNG supply sources and our own fleet. Our LNG trading volume under our account for this fiscal year is expected to reach 10 million tons. In the future, we plan to add 2 million tons per year based on new purchase contracts. In addition, we took delivery of three new LNG vessels this fiscal year, expanding our long-term chartered fleet to a total of 11 vessels. With our strong LNG portfolio base and our optimized logistics system, we will provide stable supply capabilities and demand and supply adjustment functions to meet customer needs. Next, I will talk about Ruwais LNG, for which we made FID this year and newly added to our LNG portfolio. At Ruwais LNG, our participation was realized due to the trust we have built up with our business partners, including the state-owned ADNOC over the past 50 years, and the comprehensive strengths of our company. We will contribute to the sales aspect by ensuring stable purchase of LNG and dispatching a marketing manager to the project. Additionally, as part of our efforts to reduce carbon emissions, this project will implement GHG measures through electrification and the use of clean power sources, making it an effective low-carbon LNG project that addresses climate change issues. Beyond this project, we are also implementing measures to reduce carbon emissions in other LNG projects, which I will speak to on the next slide. By implementing measures to address GHG emissions that match the characteristics of each project, we're working to reduce CO2 and methane emissions throughout the value chain with the aim of differentiating ourselves to ensure sustainable competitive advantage. As you can find from this slide, we are dividing various low-carbon measures such as CCS, CCUS initiatives in upstream gas development and liquefaction process, as well as electrification. We're also planning to deploy CCUS in the Tangguh additional development project. Next, I will speak on energy solutions. We're working on various next-generation fuels such as low-carbon methanol, SAF, HVO. Today, I would like to speak about the clean ammonia value chain, which we are particularly focusing on. Regarding production on the left-hand side, we're collaborating with the ADNOC group in an ammonia project as well, in which Mitsui was the only Japanese company invited to invest as a partner. Construction began in May this year, and we're expecting production to begin in 2027. We're planning to switch to clean ammonia by 2030. In the U.S., we're considering a clean ammonia project with CF Industries, the world's largest producer of ammonia, and we're holding discussions with the relevant parties with the aim of making FID by March 2025. In order to secure a diverse range of customers, we're expanding our sales channels to Europe, which places importance on sustainability in Africa, in addition to the Asian market, including Japan, where we have a share of over 60% of ammonia imports. In the future, a shift to clean ammonia is expected not only as fuel for power generation, but also as marine fuel, as well as fertilizers and chemical feedstocks, areas where our company has been engaged in trading for many years. Furthermore, we're making efforts to enhance transportation, and we jointly ordered 10 large ammonia carriers with the major shipping company Maersk Group. We're also working to develop receiving logistics hubs in Japan to ensure a stable supply of clean ammonia. We'll continue to work on the next-generation fuel business, such as clean ammonia, and develop it into a pillar of our business portfolio. Next, I will explain about CCS, our efforts to capture, transport, and store carbon dioxide. Mitsui has engineers with detailed knowledge of subsurface structures in various parts of the world, based on our experience in the energy resource development business. Taking full advantage of this expertise and our contact points across a wide range of industries, we're working to provide CCS as a service for CO2 emissions from various industries. We aim to build a business with an annual scale of approximately 15 million tons of sequestration by 2035. In particular, we believe that Malaysia is a region with great potential for CO2 storage due to its geographical proximity to Japan and the characteristics of its subsurface structure. We're working with Petronas, a Malaysian government-owned company, and TotalEnergies, which has a project development experience of CCS, to explore a project for transporting and storing CO2 from Japan to Malaysia. In addition, in the ships business, we're also working on the development of industry standards for liquefied CO2 carriers, which will handle the transportation of CO2. Today, I have delved into areas such as LNG, clean ammonia, and CCS. The level of profit for this fiscal year in global energy transition is expected to be JPY 150 billion. We plan to grow this to JPY 270 billion by fiscal year March 2030. To achieve this, we will position natural gas and LNG as our growth drivers for the foreseeable future, while we will also work to build a new earning space. Specifically, we expect profit contributions from next-generation fuels such as clean ammonia production and carbon management such as CCS, which I explained today, as well as from the electrification shift and the renewable energy and power trading. The timeline for the energy transition is expected to continue to change. We'll provide value to society and all stakeholders through real solutions to issues, while always anticipating changes that lay ahead. That completes my part of the presentation today. Thank you for listening. [Foreign language] Thank you very much, Matsui-san. Now, we'd like to start the Q&A session. A staff will come to you with a microphone. Please state your name and your affiliation. If you're joining us by Zoom, please click the Raise My Hand button. Please limit your question to one question per time. Thank you very much. Thank you very much for your presentation. I'd like to ask one question. The profit increase plan, it is very attractive. You talked about electrification, and are you looking for more profit from electrification going forward? Can you be more specific about your initiatives that will bring this much of a profit, please? Thank you very much for your question. This shift to electrification, of course, in mobility, electrification is a shift that we are focusing on. There are many different business projects that we are expecting in this area. For example, EV-related projects, EV battery materials, maybe business investment in that area is also included. And also, when it comes to EV production, the materials that are needed for car production are also included. And also, in addition, the EV battery pack demand, Forsee is a company that we are investing in. So this is also another project that we can expect. So mobility electrification makes up most of it. Thank you very much for your question. [Foreign language] Thank you. Next person, please. Thank you very much. One question about LNG and low carbon and decarbonization. As a real solution, you have mentioned LNG. I think this is a very appropriate word. But to us, society, including our financial institutions industry, the fossil fuel industry still remains, and this is a concern to some, and there is still some concern for us to make investments. So as energy majors or gas production countries and gas-consuming countries, have you been able to have some alignment with those parties in terms of LNG as a real solution? Thank you for the question. Well, for us, on our part, why do we believe LNG is a real solution? Well, you have to reduce GHG emissions to tackle climate change, and there is no dispute for that. And by 2030, we have to reduce the GHG by half and reach net zero by 2050. We're aiming for that and working toward that. And yet, you can't really change all the energy source to renewable energy overnight, or you can't reduce the GHG emissions to zero overnight. Therefore, the stable supply of energy in society and reducing GHG emissions and economics, including economics for those that are using energy or affordability of energy, all of these items have to be realized at the same time, and in this context, LNG, if you look at LNG, when you combust it, relatively speaking, GHG emission is lower, and for the foreseeable future, it will continue to play an important role, we believe, and to address the climate control, climate change, it's not reducing fossil fuel, but rather reducing the GHG emitted from fossil fuel, so for LNG, at the time of usage, you can take actions, including CCS, and you can provide that as a service to LNG users. You can make CCS as a service, so we are contributing at the stage of usage. And also, LNG business that we are making investment in, like in the case of Ruwais that I mentioned and Tangguh additional development that we just made a decision on. At the stage of production of LNG, we're trying to contribute to the reduction of GHG emissions. So we will continue the LNG project as a business. We are also engaged in reducing GHG emissions throughout the value chain. And so we are sharing this view with all oil majors and the industry, the production countries, Shell, Total, BP, and other oil majors. We have agreed to engage in this. That represents the shared view that we have. [Foreign language] We have a question from a Zoom participant. Please wait a moment. Thank you. [Foreign language] Thank you very much for waiting. Please turn on your camera and unmute yourself. [Foreign language] Thank you very much for taking my question. As you have just touched on about decarbonization, GX League, there is a compulsory participation requirement in GX. So you talked about realistic solutions, the importance of CCS you touched on, and the business opportunities. I think this element is going to be more important going forward. But in the existing businesses, of course, you need to make sure that you need to add value. And in Texas, this year, the CCS lease contract is in the news. So technology side or the regional side of the business, what is realistic when it comes to the factors? So can you talk about the GX League and its expansion of opportunities going forward, please? Thank you very much for your question. So CCS or CO2, to be utilizing CCS, that is what is working for. So the world is working for decarbonization or low carbon. Of course, as a real solution, CCS is in focus. As I mentioned earlier, when it comes to climate change issues, the impact is not brought on by fossil fuel, by GHG. So I think CCS will be an effective way in which it can be utilized. So I believe this is going to grow further going into the future. So we need to have a good system in the areas in which it is developed. When it comes to demand, if there are areas in which there is going to be high demand, I think this is what we want to work on. In the North Sea, there is an Acorn project. In the UK, regarding CO2, the value has already been attached. In order, we need to make sure that the CO2 is reduced in order to avoid penalties. We need to pay a certain amount to get the CCS service. GHG emitters, there are many there. This is a service business that is being established now. In the U.S., the system is not that clear yet. However, the tech company is working on AI and digital. They are going to have many data centers in which they will consume a lot of energy. They are saying that they will be using clean energy for such data centers going forward. We are trying to work in Texas, U.S., and this is a CCS business in Texas. The demand for that business is quite significant. As a first mover, we are working on such businesses. System and demand, I think, is going to be very important going forward, which we see in Europe and U.S. already. GX League is what we see in Japan. So with the proactive intention of the corporations, we are working on reducing GHG and CO2. However, next year and the year after, in order to reduce CO2, we need to see more movements to add value to CO2. And I believe that is a trend going forward globally. So there will be value added to CO2 going forward, for sure. So there are industries in Japan that emit CO2. And for example, the project that we are working on in Malaysia, there is a demand for that business within Japan going forward. And as for the partners here in Japan, there are companies that are participating as partners in this project. And we would like to have that CO2 from these partners and work on CCS going forward. So we believe that there will be acceleration of such moves in Japan going forward. Understood very well. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. We are approaching our scheduled ending time. We can take one last question if there is any. Thank you very much. There's one question. Global energy transition in this area, what about other things than LNG, including what you mentioned on the global trend? They're looking at other trading firms and other companies that are doing similar things. There are many of them. So clean ammonia, CCS, regardless of that, where do you have the biggest competitive edge in our view? And I think that would be the clue to what would bring you to the monetization the fastest. So if you can give us your thoughts on that. Thank you for the question. So if you look at our competitive edge or the biggest strengths, as a comprehensive trading firm, we are engaged in a wide range of industries, and we have these contact points in various industries. That is our strength. For instance, taking an example of CCS, we have CCS as a business. And on the other hand, there are industry points where they ask us to receive the CO2, like chemicals and power industries. And it is quite easy to see in the Malaysian case. As we engage in business, there's an aggregation of CO2. You can do that in parallel. So it's not just starting up the business, and you are not just meeting the needs of the customers, but we can also connect that to the CO2 reduction. And this is also true in power generation and renewable energy and how we can take advantage of our comprehensive power in there. So we invest in renewable energy. But there are some parts where we struggle. But what we can do is that we can sell power. There is a power trading business that we do. So those customers that do need power, and we can easily find those potential customers. In the US, the renewable energy power generation and the power trading can be combined as a vertically integrated business to add more value. So this comprehensive power and industry contact points, those are the strengths in our vi ew. Thank you for the question. [Foreign language] Thank you very much. We would now like to conclude this Q&A session. Matsui-san, thank you very much. [Foreign language] This will conclude the program. Lastly, we would like to request that you support us in responding to our survey on the webinar or on the screen in front of you. You should see a QR code. If you scan this code, you can proceed to the survey questions. Again, we request your cooperation, and we will also be issuing an email seeking your cooperation as well. Again, on that note, Mitsui and Company investor day will conclude, and we would like to thank you for your participation.