Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held the first meeting of the Headquarters for Overcoming Population Decline and Vitalizing Local Economy in Japan at the Prime Minister's Office.

During the meeting, discussion took place on the basic policies of the Headquarters for Overcoming Population Decline and Vitalizing Local Economy in Japan.

Based on the discussion in the meeting, the Prime Minister said,

“Creating prosperous, bright and vital local communities is a priority for the Abe Cabinet. The wave of economic recovery must reach every corner of the nation.

Creating local communities in which young people can work with peace of mind, where it is possible to raise children and hold dreams and hopes for the future, is the path to overcoming Japan’s population decline.

Consequently, to begin with, under the leadership of Minister Ishiba I would like you to actively visit local communities first hand and gain an understanding of their appeal, needs and highly motivated initiatives. With that as a foundation, we will compile bold policies of a dimension not seen before while listening to the views of the regions.

To accomplish this, vertically-segmented ministries and agencies with hand-out style responses must be resolutely eliminated. Regional characteristics will be respected to ensure that approaches are not adopted that seek to apply identical frameworks nationwide.

Regional vitalization is a challenge of the utmost urgency. It was possible to decide the basic policies 10 days after the Cabinet reshuffle. I would like to ask the Headquarters to continue moving ahead with this sense of urgency.”