Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held the meeting of the Strategic Headquarters for the Promotion of an Advanced Information and Telecommunications Network Society (IT Strategic Headquarters), which is the first under the Second Abe Administration, at the Prime Minister's Office.

Discussion took place on the operation of the IT Strategic Headquarters, the abolishment of the Planning Committee, an outline of the bill on the government CIOs, how to carry forward IT policies from now on, and the establishment of the IT Strategy Drafting Committee.

Based on the discussion, the Prime Minister said,

"It is true that IT infrastructure has rapidly developed into the world's top level at a fairly early stage. However, there are some aspects in which Japan is significantly behind the world in terms of the utilization of IT.
In some part, the government itself has problems in this way. Therefore, I would like to propose the large theme of realizing the world's top-class IT society, including the utilization of IT. I would like to ask for your efforts also in probing into specific measures to realize this theme.
With the expansion of the base of IT utilization, we are aiming to realize a society in which the elderly are able to receive high-quality medical care, nursing care and livelihood support service at home through telemedicine, a society in which women and young people are able to choose various working styles through "teleworking," and in addition, a safe and assured society in terms of protecting people's lives, from perspectives such as disaster prevention and the reduction of traffic accidents to zero.
Also in terms of industry, the environment should be improved to allow the generation of venture businesses and new services one after another, utilizing 'big data' such as geographical and space information and client information. At the same time, new methods for production and new business models for agriculture should also be established.
The government itself should carry forward self-transformation, such as drastic changes in the way of carrying forward work by utilizing IT.
Thus, I would like the IT Strategic Headquarters to work on the following three issues.
The first is the promotion of private investment and the development of human resources through the presentation, demonstration and standardization of a new model of success in the utilization of IT.
The second is the regulatory reform and rulemaking for realizing the new IT society, including visualization of the regulation related to online services in areas where on-the-counter service is assumed, such as the sales of pharmaceuticals, as well as the way to realize both data utilization and privacy protection.
The third is to disclose public data to the private sector and to carry forth the electronic administration, after establishing information security. The government will also require the industry to review business practices and working processes that becomes the barriers to realizing the new work-life balance.
The IT strategy is also the pillar of the growth strategy. Regarding the issue of medical care and others I mentioned earlier, the goal has been discussed from about ten years ago. However, unfortunately, we still have a long way to go to achieve such goal.
With regard to the IT strategy as the pillar of the growth strategy, it is currently required that relevant Cabinet members including Minister Shindo and Minister Motegi unite their efforts in achieving specific results, under the leadership of Minister Yamamoto, who serves the role of the control tower. Minister Yamamoto and I will also securely back up Mr. Endo, the government CIO, and I expect active advice. I declare that we are going to eliminate the vertically segmented bureaucracy in offices and ministries."