[Provisional Translation]

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held the eighth meeting of the Headquarters for the Promotion of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games at the Prime Minister's Office.
At the meeting, the draft report on the state of Government initiatives related to the promotion of preparation and management for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, and partial amendments to the plan to hold a liaison meeting for relevant ministries and agencies related to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games were approved. In addition, there were reports on establishing the Council for the Promotion of Smooth Transportation in relation to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games and the state of preparations for Rugby World Cup 2019.
Based on the approvals and reports, the Prime Minister said,

"There will soon only be three years left until the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games.
In order to ensure that the Games are a success, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, the Organising Committee, the national Government, and each relevant municipality must work as one to advance preparations.

We have just compiled a report for the Diet on the state of Government initiatives carried out in preparation for the Games up until last fiscal year. The Government will continue to accelerate initiatives while thoroughly managing the progress of each measure.
For instance, the impact of transportation for the Games on the lives of the public and economic activities must be kept to a minimum. To that end, yesterday, we established the Council for the Promotion of Smooth Transportation in relation to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, from the perspective of ensuring the appropriate coexistence of transportation related to the Games and regular transportation. This Council will work as one with the business community to implement the relevant measures.

I have recently instructed Minister Marukawa that the national Government immediately start coordination of the issue of the cost allocation related to the hosting of the Games. I would like the relevant parties to coordinate closely with one another on the matter of the total cost of hosting the Games in order to facilitate smooth preparations.
We must also carefully coordinate our efforts with those for the Rugby World Cup, which will be held in 2019, and work together as Team Japan in order to make this the world's best Games.
I ask that all members of the Cabinet exert even greater efforts for the success of the Games."