Prime Minister Naoto Kan held the fourth meeting of the Council on the Realization of the New Growth Strategy at the Prime Minister's Office.

Discussion took place on the Basic Policy on Comprehensive Economic Partnerships and other matters.

The Prime Minister said in his opening address, "The Basic Policy on Comprehensive Economic Partnerships has been designed to open the country and revitalize the agricultural sector at the same time. I believe that the realization of this policy marks the beginning of a grand strategy for Japan's prosperity in the future.
There is the risk that Japan's agriculture sector may disappear due to the aging of the farming workforce and the difficulty of finding successors. Drastic domestic measures must be taken in order to allow motivated young people to engage themselves in agriculture and nurture sustainable and robust agricultural enterprises. To this end, we will establish the Headquarters for the Promotion of Agricultural Structural Reform to promote drastic reforms. At the same time, we will promote the opening of the country.
With regard to initiatives in the Asia-Pacific region, Japan will be accelerating ongoing negotiations for bilateral economic partnership agreements (EPAs). We will also be actively promoting bilateral EPAs with countries which Japan has not yet entered into negotiation with, while working to reform the domestic environment to make this possible.
In regard to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), Japan needs to respond to negotiations while continuing forward with information gathering. We will promptly reform the domestic environment for this purpose and start negotiations with relevant countries."