Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held the fifth meeting of the Industrial Competitiveness Council at the Prime Minister's Office.

Discussion took place on the international development strategy, the realization of clean and economic energy supply and demand, and the realization of a society of good health and longevity.

Based on the discussion, the Prime Minister said in his address,

"A 'society of good health and longevity' and 'clean and economic energy supply and demand,' which are the themes today, are important issues when considering how Japanese society should be and identifying strategic market areas. We would like to develop specific policies based on today's discussion.

We will put effort into regulatory reforms for the prompt realization of regenerative medicine and for accelerating the development speed of medical equipment. Consequently, a bill for the revision of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act to revise the mechanism of examination to take into consideration the characteristics of regenerative medicine and medical equipment, and a bill on the Act on Ensuring Regenerative Medicine Safety, which allows for the outsourcing of cell culturing, will be submitted to the current session of the Diet.

The international development as a business of the medical technology and services nurtured in Japan, while also contributing in medical care and nursing care in other places including emerging economies, is the key to making this area into a growing industry. We will create a base organization to support the specific international businesses of medical institutions and relevant companies. We will fully utilize all measures, including economic cooperation, to support the international development of the medical care of Japan.

We would like to establish an environment to be among the first to put innovative therapeutic measures into practical use for patients suffering from diseases. The current bottleneck is the lack of links between the studies and clinical practices, and insufficient consolidation of clinical data. Therefore, the bridging of studies and clinical practices, the unified allocation of research expenditures, and the function of a control tower for various research activities and clinical studies will be necessary. This will provide the link between study and clinical practice, while also allowing for the securing of large-sized clinical data. The government will promptly summarize specific measures to this end.

In order to improve the convenience of the people, we will put effort into the regulatory reform and rulemaking for realizing the new IT society, including regulation related to online services in areas where over-the-counter service is assumed, such as the sales of pharmaceuticals.

To overcome energy restrictions, it is important to utilize thermal power plant in an economic and stable manner. In order to utilize environmentally-friendly, high-efficiency coal-fired power, we would like to hurry with clarifying the procedure for environmental impact assessment."