Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held the third meeting of the Council on Overcoming Population Decline and Vitalizing Local Economy in Japan at the Prime Minister's Office.

During the meeting, views were exchanged on the framework for a long-term vision and comprehensive strategy.

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

“Just now State Minister Koizumi reported on his regional visit. I believe his report provided us with a great deal of food for thought. This report has made clear just how important the strength of each regions’ determination and views are for regional vitalization. Regional vitalization cannot be achieved without respecting this fact. That is, the knowledge to accomplish this can be found in regions, and the foundation of policies moving forward should be closely rooted in regions.

I would like Minister Ishiba to take the lead and continue to actively meet with regions in person. On the political level, I would like politicians to take a closer look at regions and listen intently to their various views. On the administrative level, administrative personnel must also listen intently to the voices they hear. I would like the knowledge obtained through these processes to be fully utilized in future policy.

Based on discussions at the Council on Overcoming Population Decline and Vitalizing Local Economy in Japan, we will now enter a phase where initiatives will become concrete. The most important aspect of measures to be implemented by this Council is that they eliminate vertical segmentation and employ one-stop responses. For some time, eliminating vertical segmentation and employing one-stop responses have been points of emphasis. Our mission is to make solid progress with the areas that have yet been addressed or advanced. I would like our response to be truly beneficial to regions.

For this reason, at the end of last month I instructed Minister Ishiba and relevant ministries to reorganize and integrate similar policies, and actively endeavor to review new issues from the standpoint of concentrating on effective policies while eliminating vertical segmentation and redundancies.

I would like every minister to take special notice of these instructions and ignore the special interests of their ministry to carry out these initiatives faithfully and without fail. I ask that under the leadership of Minister Ishiba, relevant parties maintain this awareness, while working to coordinate the comprehensive strategy in December.