[Provisional Translation]

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held the 14th meeting of the Council on National Strategic Special Zones at the Prime Minister's Office.
During the meeting, debate took place on certifying the special zone plan, and items for regulatory reform and other matters in the revised Growth Strategy.

Based on the discussion, the Prime Minister said,

“It has been approximately one year since the start of the National Strategic Special Zones. In just one year, the Abe administration has followed through with reforms of vested interests in numerous fields including healthcare, agriculture, urban renaissance, and employment. To date, we have actually realized a total of 68 concrete projects in the National Strategic Special Zones.

Furthermore, during the current session of the Diet, we submitted bold regulatory reform legislation in the fields of education and childcare for matters such as the private management of public schools and the introduction of regional children’s nurses. This is a perfect example of the swift approach to regulatory reform the Abe administration is taking.

In addition, based on the discussions held with private-sector experts to date, we will make it possible to receive medical care and prescriptions remotely through the use of video phones and other means, rather than having to undergo face-to-face consultations. We will also make full use of the special zones to carry out verification trials for drones, autonomous driving and other ‘near-future technology.’ I would also like you to thoroughly incorporate into the Growth Strategy bold regulatory reform items such as greatly reducing the time required for clinical trials related to ‘revolutionary medical devices’ created in Japan that have yet to be approved overseas.

Among these measures, I would like to aim to carry out those that do not require legal revisions within this year at the latest, and for those requiring legal revisions, I would like to submit relevant bills to the next Diet session.

Some time ago, we held a symposium in which we brought all of the mayors of the special zones together under one roof. We will continue to work hard to spread knowledge to even more people about examples of the progress being made in the special zones.”