Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held the fifth joint meeting of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy and the Industrial Competitiveness Council at the Prime Minister's Office.

During the meeting, discussion took place on strategic challenges relating to the regional economic structure.

Based on the discussion, the Prime Minister said,

"As the economy begins to recover, our next challenge is to ensure that the economic uplift from Abenomics is felt throughout the whole of the country. At the same time, in the area of regional industries, our next challenge is to increase productivity through the restructuring of industries and to realize a positive cycle that leads to increases in wages and expansion of employment opportunities.
Based on today's discussion, I ask that you proceed with bold reforms from the following three standpoints:
1. To realize a sustainable regional economic structure, even with a declining population, public service functions, industries, and employment shall be consolidated in the central cities of the regions, and bold reviews shall be undertaken for the social infrastructure and land use scheme, the system of provision of administrative services, and policy approaches, among other systems;
2. The vitality of neighboring areas shall be maintained by making use of the distinctive local resources of furusato (hometowns); and
3. Human traffic and information exchanges between expansive metropolitan areas, central cities, and neighboring areas shall be expanded, and the network to make their functions complementary shall be strengthened.
I would like to ask that you start fleshing out the policies that are feasible, and that you examine policies for advancing a comprehensive concept from a mid- to long-term perspective.
Furthermore, I would like to dramatically expand concession-type private finance initiatives (PFIs) and public-private partnerships (PPPs), which entrust the operation of infrastructure businesses to the private sector, as they contribute to the creation of private-sector business opportunities in the regions and to the increased efficiency of the public sectors at the central and local government levels.
The targets of the concession program were initially set to be achieved in ten years by 2022. Now, however, in order to bring the schedule forward and achieve these targets within three years, I ask relevant ministers to request the cooperation of local governments and endeavor to generate concrete projects.
With regard to Deputy Prime Minister Aso's comment concerning the importance of initiatives that strengthen corporate governance, I would like to hold thorough discussions on this matter."