Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held the 19th meeting of the Industrial Competitiveness Council at the Prime Minister's Office.
During the meeting, discussion took place on how to proceed with the holding of the Industrial Competitiveness Council.
Based on the discussion, the Prime Minister said in his address,
“The second Abe Cabinet was recently reshuffled and new members have also joined the Industrial Competitiveness Council, with today marking our first meeting together.
Japan’s economy is undoubtedly beginning to enter a positive cycle, which has been made possible by the three arrows of Abenomics and the support of all the members of the Industrial Competitiveness Council.
We are seeing improvement and positive numbers for both employment and wages. 
However, the real challenge starts now and economic revitalization will continue to be a top priority.
The new Cabinet is one of action and achievement. During the coming extraordinary Diet session we will submit bills related to Japan’s growth strategy, including those for the vitalization of local economies, the active role of women, and small- and medium-sized enterprises. 
As Deputy Prime Minister Aso explained just now, the revised growth strategy has been highly evaluated by overseas media outlets. The Financial Times even called it “breathtaking.” However, if your breath is taken away and you simply remain in that state, you will eventually stop breathing, so what comes next is extremely important. 
What makes the Abe Cabinet’s growth strategy fundamentally different from other growth strategies before it is the use of clear KPI to provide a mechanism for verifying whether policies are being fully implemented or not.
At today’s Industrial Competitiveness Council we will establish a verification meeting to thoroughly pursue the execution and achievement of the growth strategy. Furthermore, there is no end to our growth strategy. I would like to continue to consider ways to achieve the further evolution of our growth strategy. I intend to constantly revise this strategy so that more and more people around the world have their breath taken away.
Members of the Industrial Competitiveness Council have carried out a wide range of cutting edge and innovative discussions. On occasion these discussions have sparked great debate in the Diet, as well as some friction, with some people calling these discussions controversial. I believe it is up to us to turn this friction into positive energy.  
In this sense, I believe the Industrial Competiveness Council has been tackling historical reforms. 
Under the leadership of new members, I hope the Industrial Competitiveness Council will act as a control tower for Japan’s economic revitalization, and take on even bolder challenges than ever before. Thank you.”