ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; President & COO: Keita Ishii; hereinafter “ITOCHU”) and Shiga Prefecture, the place where ITOCHU was founded, had the signing ceremony for their Social Contribution Partnership Agreement on October 28, 2022. Taizo Mikazuki, the governor of Shiga Prefecture, and Fumihiko Kobayashi, Executive Vice President & CAO, have signed the agreement.

In its Basic Activity Guidelines on Social Contribution, ITOCHU set three areas: Growth of Future Generations, Environmental Conservation and Community Contribution. Based on the guidelines, ITOCHU has sponsored the Lake Biwa Museum reopening project, donated picture books in various foreign languages to the Shiga Prefectural Library, donated tablets with digital books for children who have reading difficulties to special needs schools and libraries in the prefecture, and conducted various other activities. Moreover, ITOCHU has deepened its ties with Shiga Prefecture by holding its training for new employees and executives of the ITOCHU Group in Toyosato-cho, Shiga Prefecture enabling them to learn its philosophy, since it is the land where the founder was born, raised and where the business began.

Building on this relationship, the two parties concluded the Social Contribution Partnership Agreement mainly concerning the following matters, with the goal of developing the partnership and increasing cooperation as we move toward the future.

1. Matters related to the conservation of the environment/biodiversity
2. Matters related to the growth of next generations/education
3. Matters related to contributing to communities
4. Matters related to initiatives for the SDGs/MLGs (Mother Lake Goals)
5. Matters related to brand and information providing
6. Matters related to resolving social challenges

Moving forward, specific projects will be promoted based on this agreement.

Following the agreement signing ceremony, the presentation ceremony of picture books for the "World Picture Book Donation Project" was held on the same day in the Shiga Prefectural Library.
Shiga Prefecture accommodates a large population of foreign workers. Hearing from the Shiga Prefectural Library that it is difficult to obtain books and picture books in foreign languages to meet demand, ITOCHU launched this project last year. Following the donation of 326 books in 18 languages from 22 countries last fiscal year, ITOCHU donated 749 books in 29 languages from 38 countries this fiscal year. The books were collected from the ITOCHU’s offices around the world. It is a social contribution that can be made only by a general trading company that has many global offices like ITOCHU.

Based on the Social Contribution Partnership Agreement, ITOCHU will contribute to the achievement of the SDGs in its partnership with Shiga Prefecture in the "Sampo-yoshi" spirit going forward.