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[Provisional Translation]

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held the 27th meeting of the Industrial Competitiveness Council at the Prime Minister's Office.

During the meeting, discussion took place on the draft of the 2016 Japan Revitalization Strategy.

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

“The key of the second stage of Japan’s growth strategy is the realization of the fourth industrial revolution. Individualized services and new business models tailored to each individual will be created as a result of IoT and robots. All factories and shops will be connected through IoT, enabling zero inventory and instantaneous order-made production. This could represent a game-changer for industry as we know it.

While this represents a major opportunity, if our efforts are delayed, Japan’s major corporations will become the subcontractors of the world’s leading companies, which could negatively impact Japan’s overall economy.

We will establish the Fourth Industrial Revolution Public-Private Council as a control tower for Japan’s efforts to undertake reforms in a speedy manner.

First, there are three important tasks to address.

Firstly, we will identify prominent fields, such as healthcare, and encourage the establishment of a platform for providing and utilizing data that transcends corporate and organizational boundaries.

Secondly, we will press ahead with reform of regulations and systems based on trends in technological innovation.

Thirdly, we will develop the human resources to come out on top during the era of the fourth industrial revolution. We will make programming a required class in primary and secondary education, and introduce proficiency-based learning utilizing IT.

We will continue to exert our full efforts toward achieving a GDP of 600 trillion yen with the fourth industrial revolution positioned as a new growth engine.