[Provisional Translation]

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe attended the 18th meeting of the Regulatory Reform Promotion Council at the Prime Minister's Office.

During the meeting, the first report on regulatory reform promotion was compiled.

After receiving the report from Ms. Hiroko Ota, Chair of the Council, the Prime Minister said,

"Today, the Regulatory Reform Promotion Council, which was established in September of last year, compiled its first report. I want to express my sincere gratitude to all of the members of this Council, including Chair Ota and Acting Chair Kanemaru, for the intensive discussions you have carried out.

Four and a half years into Abenomics, regulatory reform remains our utmost priority. AI is changing society, and the population is aging at tremendous speed. Under such circumstances, it will be the flexible revision of regulations and systems without being caught up in conventional frameworks that will create a strong economy.

For the current term, you have set forth the new pillars of: the reform of the distribution system for milk and dairy products; the creation of rules that encourage the flexible combination of services covered and not covered by long-term care insurance; the review of employment rules to support a variety of work styles; and measures that will reduce administrative procedure costs by more than 20% by 2020.

Based on the report I received today, I am resolved to establish a regulatory reform action plan immediately, and implement the reforms you have outlined at the earliest possible timing.

We still need to work on many regulatory reforms if we want to be sure that we open the door to the future for the Japanese economy. I ask that the members of this Council continue to make dedicated efforts to realize bold regulatory reforms. I will do everything in my power to support this."