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[Provisional Translation]

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held a meeting with chairpersons of prefectural assemblies at the Prime Minister's Office.

The Prime Minister said in his opening address,

“I want to thank all of the Chairpersons of Prefectural Assemblies here today for gathering despite your very busy schedules. I am very pleased that we have this opportunity for frank discussion since all of you are leaders of regional municipalities and are working hard to promote them on a daily basis.

First, this year, a number of severe disasters occurred across the country one after another, including volcanic activity such as the eruption of Mount Shindake on Kuchinoerabujima Island and the torrential rains that hit the Kanto and Tohoku regions last month. I would like to once again express my condolences for those who lost their lives, and my sympathies to those affected by this disaster in each region.

The Government will continue to collaborate closely with everyone in regional municipalities, promote recovery and reconstruction from disasters, and work to strengthen support to help people rebuild their lives and bolster disaster prevention measures.

Thanks to the economic policies of the “three arrows,” the ratio of job offers to job seekers has increased greatly in all municipalities, and we can see other positive signs across the country, such as an increase in tax revenues.

In the midst of this, both national and regional governments have strengthened initiatives against the major structural issue that is the aging population and declining birthrate, and are working with the aim of creating a society in which all  one hundred million-plus citizens are each actively engaged. .

In order to realize this, we will reinforce the original three arrows, and integrate them into a new first arrow “strong economy”, thereby thoroughly spreading a sense of economic recovery across the country.

We will also add to that the two arrows of childrearing support  and social security  and loose the three new arrows with full force.

For regional vitalization, we will provide strong support for the implementation of the regional versions of the comprehensive strategy through the 2015 Basic Policy that was formulated in June as well as the creation of new forms of subsidies in the FY2016 budget.

Regarding decentralization reform, we will continue to strongly promote the realization of the many proposals we have received from all of you.

We will listen carefully to the views of the regions. We will fully support enthusiastic and creative regional initiatives. This is the basic stance of the Abe Cabinet.

I want to receive your frank opinions during this meeting today and incorporate them into national policy. I want to reflect your opinions in support for the regions and regional vitalization. Thank you very much.”