Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held the Meeting for an Exchange of Views with the Business Community at the Prime Minister's Office.

Discussion took place on the efforts of the business community towards the realization of a growth strategy and the issues they face.

The Prime Minister said in his opening address,

"We are now in the final stages of establishing a growth strategy. Amidst the declining population, I would like the policy of realizing a society in which women and young people who will lead the next generation have opportunities to participate actively in society to be enshrined in the growth strategy. In this respect, I would like to ask the following three items.
First, regarding young people, it is important from the standpoint of strengthening human resources development that an environment is created in which young people can focus on their academic studies and gain a diversity of experiences. It is also important that the job search environment is improved for Japanese students returning from overseas studies. In this vein, I have instructed Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Shimomura to request universities and other relevant organizations to implement university reform.
From the same standpoint, I would like to ask the business community that, starting from the job hunt activities of those graduating in FY2015, the start date of PR activities is moved back to March of the third year of university and the start date of recruitment and selection activities is moved back to August of the fourth year of university.
In order to support these reforms, the Government will strengthen supports for career education and internships and make further efforts to communicate the attractiveness of small- and medium-sized enterprises to students.
Secondly, it is important to realize a society in which both men and women can easily balance work and caring for their children. I would like to ask the business community to enable male and female employees to take childcare leave and have the option of short working hours, if requested, until their children reach three years of age.
For companies that promote the return to work from childcare leave, the Government will provide financial support as well as support the advancement of women in the workplace.
Thirdly, I would like to ask all listed companies that they actively appoint women to executive and management positions to move closer to achieving the Government's target of increasing the proportion of women in leadership ranks to around 30% by 2020. I would like to ask companies to start by appointing women to at least one of the executive positions."