Kyowa Exeo's Shigehiro Nose was honored as one of the world's top young engineers when he won a gold medal in the Infomation Network Cabling category at the 40th WorldSkills Competition, held in Calgary, Canada, in September 2009. This achievement, coming after Daisuke Kominato's victory in the 38th WorldSkills Competition 2005 in Helsinki, Finland, and Yuki Yamaguchi's victory in the 39th WorldSkills Competition, 2007, in Shizuoka, Japan, produced a Third consecutive championship for the company's engineers. They have engaged in constant improvement of their individual skills, of course, but support from the company and the people around them also contributed to the winning of three consecutive world titles. Our employees are a vital resource. We are convinced that our commitment to personal respect, fair treatment, and professionalism will help us to drive corporate progress. We have created workplaces in which employees and the Company can fulfill their roles and in which all our people can realize their potential, enabling our employees and businesses to grow together. Education and Training System Because human resources are so vital, we focus heavily on cultivating the skills of our people. Our training covers new employees, career advancement, technical and sales training, and internships. We also maintain programs that enable employees to acquire new qualifications, do further tertiary study in Japan, or take remote learning courses. Technical training includes programs covering core fields for relevant business fields and acquiring new skills, as well as programs to foster multi-skilled, multi-tasking engineers. We also accord priority to on-the-job training and securing qualifications, as par t of which we maintain a proprietary personnel management system that details the progress, training records, and certifications of each employee and thus helps drive ongoing personal advancement. Unwavering Efforts to Maintain and Bolster Technological Skills Technology is fundamental to the Group. It is essential to maintain and improve our technological capabilities so we can remain in business and enhance our corporate value. And constant and dramatic advances in info-communications are producing new technologies, equipment, and materials, and facilities. New and old telecommunications facilities exist side by side. So, as a leader in constructing info-communications networks we have been swif t to engage groupwide in ongoing training programs for outstanding engineers so we can handle diverse technologies and facilities. We are also drawing on the latest construction techniques to improve quality and customer satisfaction while boosting efficiency. Demonstrating Our Technological Prowess Our high technological standards stem from employees' devotion to improving their capabilities. Our employees consistently win podium places in the Telecommunication Distribution Technology category of the Japanese National Skills Olympics, and have represented the nation twice at the Worldskills Competition. They seek to compete internationally a third straight time at the 40th Worldskills Competition, held in Calgary, in September 2009.    KYOWA EXEO undertakes diverse initiatives that put its corporate philosophy into practice. We commemorated our 50th anniversary by helping the Japanese Forestry Agency to preserve and enhance woodland resources. As part of this initiative, we established EXEO Woods sites in Hokkaido, Tohoku, Kanto, Kansai Chugoku, and Kyushu, and we continue to promote forest conservation.    These reserves aid environmental protection and restoration and enable employees to contribute to local communities and raise awareness of forest conservation issues. We hope that this interaction with forests will create platforms for communication, provide education on the importance of nature preservation, and promote the need for conservation. We introduced an environmental management system to cut our consumption of electricity, city gas, gasoline, and diesel fuel, and are participating in Team Minus 6%, a national initiative to prevent global warming. In summer, we preset air conditioners at 28°C in the summer and have employees dress casually without ties and jackets so they can work comfortably. In winter, we preset heaters at 20°C and encourage employees to dress accordingly. We have also introduced power conservation and eco-drive programs. As well as reducing the ecological impact of our operations, we supply processes and products that reduce environmental footprints. We provide waste treatment solutions for furnaces that melt fly ash and recycling those facilities. We also offer new energy technologies, including for wood biomass boilers and methane fermentation plants, as well as technologies for industrial waste and sewage treatment facilities. Other capabilities that help improve the social and natural environments include advising on asbestos management and installing underground lines to replace utility poles. Info-communications services are central to modern living, so it is critical to quickly restore them after typhoons, earthquakes, or torrential rains cause utility poles to collapse, damage cables, and sever lines. We swiftly deploy area-wide recovery assistance operations in response to requests from the NTT Group and other carriers. We make every effort to ensure communications in affected areas and to quickly restore telecommunications facilities and services while working to prevent secondary disasters.