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

Discussion took place on the development of safe, convenient, and economic next-generation infrastructure, the reinforcement of science and technology innovation and IT, and the strengthening of Japan's international competitiveness as a business hub.

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

"'Science and technology innovation and IT,' 'strengthening Japan's international competitiveness as a business hub,' and 'next-generation infrastructure,' which are the themes today, are important issues that shape the foundation of Japan's industrial competitiveness. Specific policies will be developed based on today's discussion.

I would like to highlight the use of the system of special zones as a way of spearheading the realization of a business environment that will make Japan the easiest country in the world to do business in. The present situation of existing special zones will be studied, and the question of how the zones may be drastically strengthened to take them to a whole new level will be examined, with a view to increasing the proactive involvement of the Government.

In addition, the aging of infrastructure is a worldwide issue. While keeping an eye on capturing the world market, Japan will promote the use and development of technologies, including IT, sensor, and new materials, which will ensure the safety and increase the service life of infrastructure and streamline maintenance and management costs. We will take steps based on such technologies to establish a 'plan for increasing infrastructure service life' in order to efficiently and economically manage infrastructure over the long-term.
Furthermore, tactics will be explored for the early establishment of technologies for the automated driving of vehicles and preparations for allowing such vehicles to run on public roads.

With regard to public infrastructure, it is important that we make maximum use of the vitality of the private sector, in order to efficiently ensure that the infrastructure fully serves its functions while maintaining fiscal discipline. The use of the method of entrusting the operation of public facilities to the private sector will be expanded, which will lead to the creation of new infrastructure industries.

The Council for Science and Technology Policy will function as a 'control tower' for studying the creation of a cross-ministry research and development program. This will allocate policy resources according to the priority order of key national issues to be resolved through innovations.

An action plan for regulatory and institutional reform will be established with a view to expanding IT usage, including the creation of rules that will allow for both data utilization and privacy protection. Moreover, rules will be developed to promote access to public data by the private sector."