[Provisional Translation]

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held the 21st meeting of the Headquarters on Creating Dynamism in Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery Industries and Local Communities at the Prime Minister's Office.

During the meeting, discussion took place on the progress of measures based on the Plan for Creating Dynamism in Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery Industries and Local Communities and on new policy issues, among other matters.

Based on the discussion, the Prime Minister said,

"We will turn agriculture into a growth industry. Based on this strong resolve, the Abe Cabinet has been robustly advancing fundamental reforms covering the entirety of agricultural policy. As a result, the number of new farmers in their 40s or younger has exceeded 23,000 people, which is the largest number since we started keeping statistics. Most recently, agricultural income produced totaled 3.3 trillion yen per year, growing to the highest level in the past 11 years. Agricultural exports have also set new records for four consecutive years. If you put your mind to it, anything is possible. The Abe Cabinet will accelerate agricultural policy reform.

We will work quickly to materialize the reforms in the areas of production material and distribution, including promoting business reorganization and new entrants based on the recently enacted Law on Strengthening the Competitiveness of the Agricultural Industry as well as reforming the wholesale market. In particular, concerning the reform of agricultural cooperatives, including ZEN-NOH (National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations), we will thoroughly follow up on this and continue to strongly advance reforms for farmers so that achievements can be made within the concentrated promotion period for reforms that will end in June 2019.

We will steadily implement improvement measures to further enhance the performance of farmland consolidation banks and exports. We will also actively work on new issues, such as expanding uses for wild game.

Following on the agricultural industry, we will also attempt to make the forestry and fisheries industries into growth industries. The artificial forests created in the post-World War II period are ready to be harvested, and the time has come to fully use this resource. In addition, Japan is surrounded by waters containing one of the world's leading fertile fishing grounds. We will sufficiently tap their latent potential, and start discussions on fundamental reforms that will lead to the increased vitalization of the regions.

What is important is to face these issues head on and produce results. I ask that the relevant parties make further efforts in order to turn the agricultural, forestry, and fisheries industries into fields that young people can entrust their dreams and futures to."