Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held the eighth meeting of the Reconstruction Promotion Council at the Prime Minister's Office.

Following the submission of a proposal from Mr. Tadamori Oshima, Chairman of the Special Committee on Reconstruction after the Great East Japan Earthquake of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan (LDP) at the start of the meeting, discussion took place on the state of the promotion of measures to accelerate reconstruction and an interim summary of work.

Based on the discussion, the Prime Minister said,

"Just now, I received a proposal on the acceleration of reconstruction from the ruling parties. I offer my gratitude for the detailed examination of the state of reconstruction and compilation of new issues and further initiatives.
We must have those affected by the disaster greet the winter with hope this year especially, which marks the third year since the Great East Japan Earthquake.
The Abe Cabinet has made recovery and reconstruction from the Great East Japan Earthquake an issue of top priority, and we are exerting every effort on this. While listening to the opinions of the ruling parties, we will resolve each issue one by one and accelerate reconstruction.
Roadmaps for residences have been revealed in the last half year. Work for the transfer of residential areas to plateaus has also started little by little. The reconstruction of industry is steadily proceeding as well, with it now being possible to resume farming operations on over 60% of the land affected by the tsunami among other developments. Most of the revisions to the designation of areas in Fukushima have been completed as well.
Reconstruction is entering a new stage.
In the midst of this, new issues are developing alongside the progress that has been made. For example, as is stated in the proposal I received this time, we must advance concrete measures within Fukushima on such issues as decontamination and the establishment of interim storage facilities.
We must not stop the process toward reconstruction.
Moving forward, I want the Government and ruling parties to come together as one on work toward reconstruction."