Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held the sixth meeting of the Headquarters for Promoting Decentralization Reform at the Prime Minister’s Office.
During the meeting, discussion took place on “the implementation of the fourth round of legislation,” “the overview and vision of decentralization reform,” and “the method for soliciting proposals on decentralization reform.”
The Prime Minister said in his opening address,
“There will be no vitalization of Japan without the vitalization of regional communities. Regional revitalization is one of the Abe Cabinet’s most important themes and regional communities represent the lead actor in the future growth of Japan. It is absolutely essential to promote decentralization reform in order to create regions that are independent and that can leverage their unique characteristics.
The ‘Comprehensive Act on Transition of the Work and Authority from the National Government to Local Governments’ was passed at the most recent Diet meeting. With this, the series of decentralization reform measures initiated under the first Abe administration have reached a new stage. We will now take stronger steps forward toward further reform that emphasizes the ‘ideas’ and ‘diversity’ of regions.
During this meeting Minister Shindo will provide a final compilation on ‘the overview and vision of decentralization reform,’ which will serve as a guideline for future decentralization efforts, as well as a report about the ‘solicitation of proposals’ from regions, aimed at promoting decentralization efforts originating from the regions themselves.
I would like to ask each minister to take the lead in implementing initiatives in this new phase of decentralization reform.
In particular, we have already received a large number of consultations about ‘proposals from regions’ and I would like ministers to demonstrate strong leadership to ensure that as many proposals as possible are realized.”