Prime Minister Shinzo Abe attended the Petroleum Association of Japan New Year Party held in Tokyo.

The Prime Minister said in his opening address,

"With all your support, we have been able to mark the start of the new year as the government and the ruling parties.
At the same time, we have started this new year with grave responsibilities, and we must fulfill your expectations as early as possible.
We would like to achieve significant results rather than giving hundreds of hollow words.
Keeping this in mind, I am determined to win people's trust by building up actual results one by one.
Above all, the most important mission imposed on us is revival of the Japanese economy.
This is the top prioritized issue for the Abe administration. We will break out of deflation and correct the yen appreciation, and achieve economic growth.
Energy is an indispensible resource for economic growth.
This means that without a stable supply of energy, and petroleum, there will be no growth of Japan. In that context, I would like to ask for the Petroleum Association of Japan to continuously build systems for stable, robust and resilient supply.
As the Chief Cabinet Secretary had said shortly before, we must not forget your efforts in supplying petroleum at the time of the Great East Japan Earthquake that occurred two years before, day and night, risking your lives, including the supply to emergency vehicles and others.
Likewise, I believe that petroleum energy is precisely the absolutely necessary life-support substance in the time of a major disaster.
I consider that it is required to establish a secure system in times of normalcy, when everything is proceeding without problem.
As I have mentioned earlier, we are determined to restore a strong Japanese economy with the "three prongs," namely, bold monetary policy, flexible public finance policy, and a growth strategy that encourages private sector investment."