Liaison Meeting of the Government and Ruling Parties

On August 27, 2024, Prime Minister Kishida attended a Liaison Meeting of the Government and Ruling Parties at the Prime Minister’s Office.

In his opening remarks Prime Minister Kishida said:

“At the press conference on August 14th, I said, ‘This coming LDP presidential election should be an opportunity for us to demonstrate to the public that the LDP is changing. In this respect, the most convincing first step is for me to step aside. I will not run for the next LDP presidential election.’

I appreciate all of you for your extraordinary efforts to date. I would like to express my sincere appreciation to you once again.

While facing severe challenges both domestically and internationally, we have steadily accumulated concrete results in various fields, including the economy and diplomacy, with your cooperation.

Among them was putting an end to the deflation that had persisted for 30 years, backed by the revival of wage increases and promotion of investment through the public and private cooperation as part of efforts to realize a New Form of Capitalism. In a bid for a shift in energy policy, aimed at dealing with a significant increase in power demand in an era of AI (artificial intelligence), as well as with GX (green transformation), we have introduced carbon pricing and GX Economy Transition Bonds, promoted restarts of nuclear power plants and made efforts to construct new advanced reactors. We have also addressed the dwindling birthrate, an issue that we cannot afford to postpone, by putting in place a set of large-scale measures totaling 3.6 trillion yen. Meanwhile, responding to the international community that is becoming more complex and difficult to deal with, we have decided to fundamentally strengthen defense capabilities with a budget totaling 43 trillion yen over five years. In addition, capitalizing on the solid Japan-U.S. relations, we have taken the lead in the international discussion toward cooperation through the G7 Hiroshima Summit and other events, while also pursuing a muti-layered diplomacy including improving the Japan-ROK relations and strengthening ties with the Global-South.

We pushed ahead with a variety of policies even after the end of the Diet session. The annualized nominal gross domestic product (GDP) stood at 607.9 trillion yen, reaching the target set in 2015 under the Abe administration after nine years. Other measures include the growth of real wages taking a positive turn in June, a record-high increase in minimum wages, the start of three-month emergency assistance for overcoming extreme heat, the meeting with groups of plaintiffs in lawsuits over the former Eugenic Protection Act where I offered them direct apologies and withdrew the government’s assertion for the application of the period of exclusion, the inscription of the Sado Island Golds Mines on the World Heritage List, my attendance at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit, and the hosting of the 10th Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting (PALM10).

As we have seen, we have produced various results in the most recent period.

On the other hand, the issue of politics and money surrounding political fund-raising parties by factions created public distrust in politics and caused a great inconvenience to the members of the Komeito. I have addressed the issue with the belief that it is my responsibility as Prime Minister and LDP President to tackle party reforms, clarify the cases, take strict action, and revise the Political Funds Control Act, among others.

Nevertheless, there is no end to political reforms to recover trust. For the time being, we must continue such reforms and efforts to regain the trust of the people, including the consideration of what a third-party body should be like, which is one of the issues to be discussed in the future, as stipulated by the supplementary provisions of the revised Political Funds Control Act. Under the grand policy and leadership of the new LDP president, I will do my utmost as a rank-and-file member.

Thus I have looked back on our initiatives over the past three years. Although some issues are still half complete, I reiterate my appreciation for your cooperation that has led to the significant accomplishments.

I will continue efforts as Prime Minister and LDP President for the rest of my tenure. Specifically, we are making arrangements so that we can decide on September 3 to use reserve funds to combat surging prices and promote wage increases for the implementation of measures to curb drastic fluctuations in fuel prices and the emergency assistance for overcoming extreme heat I just mentioned, as well as in early September to use the sixth installment of the funds since the occurrence of the Noto Peninsula Earthquake toward the recovery and reconstruction from the disaster.

We will make full-fledged preparations for the response to a succession of typhoons, and while monitoring the typhoon situation, I will visit the sites of recovery and reconstruction from the Noto Peninsula Earthquake to confirm the progress.

In addition, as part of our efforts to strengthen shuttle diplomacy, my visit to South Korea is being discussed between the two countries. Also, I hope to attend events related to the UN General Assembly in late September, if various circumstances permit.

I will continue to serve as Prime Minister and party president until the final day of my tenure to wholeheartedly carry out measures. I ask for the understanding and cooperation of all members of the ruling parties.”