Prime Minister Shinzo Abe attended the meeting of the National Council on Social Security System Reform at the Prime Minister's Office.
At this meeting, details of the discussions thus far were confirmed and opinions were exchanged.

The Prime Minister said in his opening address,

"The National Council on Social Security System Reform was established based on the Act on Promotion of Reform (of the social security system).
What motivated us to make the Act on Promotion of Reform is the strong feeling that we should build a sustainable social security system that maintains the balance between benefits and contribution, while securing a stable revenue source amid the increasingly declining birthrate and aging population, and to restore safety in daily life.
Revival of daily life is positioned as one of the important issues of the Abe Cabinet, together with the revival of economy, revival of foreign and security policy, and revival of education.
Therefore, based on the agreement of the three political parties, the Abe Cabinet will also commit its full effort, including thorough implementation of the comprehensive reform of social security and taxation systems, in order to start creating a society with a strong sense of security.
It would like to ask also for the members of the Council to have a thorough discussion based on the Act on Promotion of Reform, aiming to establish a sustainable social security system with which everyone can feel assured, under the basic approach of putting top priority on self-help and self-reliance, as well as combining public help and mutual help, and securely extending a hand of aid to people in vulnerable positions, while utilizing the precious financial source effectively."