Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held the 16th meeting of the Industrial Competitiveness Council in 2014 at the Prime Minister's Office.

During the meeting, discussion took place on the "revision of the Japan Revitalization Strategy."

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

"Through the promotion of the 'three arrows' policy, corporate performance has improved dramatically, and wages are increasing. In the area of employment as well, the ratio of job offers to job seekers improved for the 17th consecutive month. I think we have a shared sense that the economy has made improvements. Indeed, a virtuous cycle of the economy is beginning to form. However, we cannot allow this situation to be transient and must ensure that it is sustainable. I believe the key to realizing this rests on whether Japanese companies and Japanese people unleash their potential strengths and embark upon new challenges.
Ever since the revitalization strategy was compiled in June of last year under the motto of 'speed' and 'execution,' as many as around 40 growth strategy-related bills were submitted to the Diet, and many of them have already been passed. Your discussions have in fact produced such outcomes.
There is no end to the growth strategy of the Abe administration. While a number of items remain unrealized because of the difficulties they pose, at the same time, we only have the difficult items left to address. As such, we will make bold decisions regarding the remaining issues and put them into action one after another.
I would like to ask the Council to cap the discussions it has conducted over the course of this past year by compiling a policy package that will have a strong impact. In order to send out a strong message that the Japanese economy will turn around, I would like to ask the Council to narrow down the policies in the package to those that are most robust.
To use a metaphor to describe the Japan Revitalization Strategy, if this process were a marathon, we are approaching the final stages and are about to enter the National Stadium. This is the most crucial part. Unless we give it our all for that final spurt, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to cross the finish line in first place. Therefore, I would like to ask everyone to work hard under the leadership of Minister Amari, with the resolve to give it that one final push."