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On November 12, 2018, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held the 13th meeting of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy in 2018 at the Prime Minister’s Office.
 
At the meeting, an intensive discussion was first held on monetary policy, commodity prices, and other issues, followed by discussions on education and science and technology, as well as social infrastructure improvement and building national resilience, which are some of the thematic topics of the Integrated Economic and Fiscal Reforms.
 
Based on the discussion, the Prime Minister said,
 
“Today, we first held intensive discussions on monetary policy, commodity prices, and other issues. It was indicated that, while the fundamentals of the Japanese economy are sound as seen from the steady improvements in employment and the income situation, there are several points we need to carefully monitor such as the trends of the global economy. I ask Minister Motegi to take all possible measures with regard to economic management.
 
The Abe Cabinet remains steadfast in placing the economy as our utmost priority. We will make thorough efforts so as to sustain this trend of economic recovery while closely watching the economic situation in Japan and overseas.
 
With regard to the development of social infrastructure, we shared the recognition that emergency measures aimed at disaster prevention and disaster mitigation as well as building national resilience, are pressing issues toward securing safety and security in the lives of the people and the foundation of the Japanese economy. I ask Minister Yamamoto who is in charge of Building National Resilience and the relevant ministers to ensure that the discussions today will be reflected in the three-year emergency measure package, which will be compiled by the end of this year, and in the Fundamental Plan for National Resilience, which is due for its five-year review.
 
While this can be applied to the field of science and technology policy, which is another agenda of this meeting, in these fields, how the public and private sectors divide their roles and cooperate and how we promote private sector investment are important keys in materializing the sustainable growth of the Japanese economy. I ask the relevant ministers to thoroughly address this by promoting institutional reforms and other means, while taking these perspectives into consideration.

The revitalization of education is an extremely important issue. I ask Minister Shibayama to engage proactively to fundamentally improve the quality of education from primary and secondary education to higher education, through a focused budget allocation based on highly reliable evidence and objective indicators, and the utilization of external funds.”