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

During the meeting, discussion took place on the reform of independent administrative agencies.

Based on the discussion, the Prime Minister said,

"It is important that independent administrative agencies deliver high quality administrative services to the people, while at the same time we work to 'slim down' the agencies. 
Therefore, in accordance with the guidelines which have been compiled today, agencies will first be classified into three categories according to their services, and governance schemes suitable for each of the categories will be developed. Furthermore, incentives will be increased for expanding their earnings and for cutting down their expenses. At the same time, the transparency of budget implementation will be enhanced. In addition, in order to raise their international competitiveness, the agencies will be fundamentally reviewed from the perspective of introducing more flexibility into the system and operations, including making it easier for research and development entities to secure talented human resources.  
In order to promote agricultural policy on the offensive, four agencies will be merged. In such ways, agencies will be merged and abolished not for merely evening out their numbers, but to truly enhance their policy implementation functions.
These initiatives represent the culmination of the reform of independent administrative agencies undertaken since the first Abe Cabinet. I would like to express my appreciation to all of the members for their efforts. The Government will work to translate the plan into action with a sense of urgency, including submitting the bill for the revision of the law to the next ordinary session of the Diet."