Mr. Saito Ken was appointed Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) on December 14, 2023. He also assumed the roles of Minister in charge of the Response to the Economic Impact caused by the Nuclear Accident, Minister for Green Transformation, Minister in charge of Industrial Competitiveness, Minister for Economic Cooperation with Russia, and Minister of State for the Nuclear Damage Compensation and Decommissioning Facilitation Corporation.

Immediately prior to his current appointment, Mr. Saito served in senior positions within the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). As Minister, Mr. Saito brings a deep knowledge of METI and Ministerial experience to his role. Between 2017-2019, Mr. Saito served as Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

Mr. Saito is an elected member of Japan’s House of Representatives. He first won election to the House of Representatives in 2009 and has successfully won reelection 5 times

Before seeking elected office, Mr. Saito served for more than 20 years as a public official at METI and Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI), the predecessor agency to METI. During his career as an official at the Ministry, Mr. Saito served in a wide range of executive posts with responsibilities for key policy areas including electricity infrastructure, the Electronics sector and natural resources and energy.

He joined the Ministry directly after graduating from the University of Tokyo’s Faculty of Economics.

Mr. Saito was born on June 14, 1959, in Tokyo.