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[Provisional Translation]

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe attended the award ceremony and celebration for the sixth Monodzukuri Nippon (Japan’s Manufacturing) Grand Award held at the Prime Minister's Office.

The Prime Minister said in his address at the award ceremony,

"I would like to extend my heartfelt congratulations to the recipients of the Sixth Monodzukuri Nippon (Japan’s Manufacturing) Grand Award.

I started my professional career at a steel company. I underwent some training back then at a factory for a little over one month.

Everyone there truly had a sense of purpose and worked with the desire to create something great. Even during their breaks they would hold various discussions with their fellow coworkers and talk about how they could improve things. They took pride in their own capabilities and also Japan’s capabilities. I still remember them talking about that to this day.

I recently visited Central Asia. The countries of Central Asia all have respect for the Japanese people. This can be considered an asset for Japan. The reason why they have respect for the Japanese people is that after World War II, many Japanese were detained in Central Asia, particularly in Uzbekistan, and were made to carry out forced labor. However, regardless of it being forced labor, these Japanese people wanted to construct something great, and so they gave their all to their work, came up with novel ideas, and worked diligently to create great things.

In Uzbekistan, Japanese detainees built the Navoi Theater. Even though a large earthquake destroyed most of the other buildings around it, that theatre alone has survived.

Many people in Central Asia at the time were greatly moved from seeing how these Japanese detainees worked so diligently and with all of their effort to create great things. As a result, they continue to hold respect for the Japanese people to this day. I think this is a great asset for Japan. At the same time, all of you, masters of monodzukuri (manufacturing), are also an asset for Japan, whom we should all be proud of.

The Japanese economy is almost at the point of escaping deflation. We have established our next target of achieving a nominal GDP of 600 trillion yen, which will be the largest nominal GDP Japan has ever had.

We have overcome a variety of difficulties up to this point. In doing so, we have been steadily restoring our self-confidence, and in this context, I would like us to work hard and aim to achieve our next target.

I believe that central to this will be the skills, experiences, and capabilities of those involved with monodzukuri activities, like all of you here, who have continued to raise the competitiveness of Japan.

Everyone who is being awarded today is a master of monodzukuri, and I hope that you will all work as monodzukuri evangelists to communicate the spirit of monodzukuri to the younger generations. I also request that you further develop monodzukuri, a fundamental strength of Japan, and that you continue to be active in your fields. I would like to conclude my address by expressing my hopes for your continued success. Congratulations to everyone today.”