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[Provisional Translation]

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe attended a Regular General Meeting of the National Association of Chairpersons of City Councils held in Tokyo.

The Prime Minister said in his congratulatory address,

“I would like to make some brief remarks on the occasion of the 92nd Regular General Meeting of the National Association of Chairpersons of City Councils.

First, I would like to again express my condolences for those who lost their lives in the Kumamoto earthquake, and my heartfelt sympathies for everyone affected by the disaster.

In response to this disaster, local governments from all over the country, especially from cities, have been providing powerful support for the recovery and reconstruction of the affected areas, such as by dispatching more than 1,400 staff members to the affected areas.

As well as expressing my respect for these wonderful measures, which transcend local government boundaries, I would like to request the continued implementation of these support measures.

The supplementary budget was passed recently, as a funding measure to strongly advance repair and reconstruction. In regard to the formulation of a new emergency fund in the supplementary budget, today we achieved a Cabinet decision on the use of the first round. As well as establishing group subsidies so that members of SMEs can combine their strengths toward reconstruction, this provides support to farmers by rebuilding damaged barns and greenhouses, moreover, we have established a special voucher in order to vitalize tourism in Kyushu as a whole, with a total of over 100 billion yen appropriated for these measures. We will continue to fully utilize this supplementary budget to provide detailed and robust support to facilitate the rebuilding of livelihoods and the reconstruction of industry as soon as possible.

As you already know, at the Ise-Shima Summit that was held last week, the G7 members agreed to coordinate to release the three arrows of monetary policy, fiscal policy, and structural policy. Abenomics will be developed globally. I am resolved that, as the as the country holding the G7 Presidency, Japan will take the lead to mobilize all kinds of policies, and to once again set the engine of Abenomics at full speed ahead.

Advancement of regional vitalization, which has now entered the second stage, is one of these important policies. Almost all municipalities have established regional versions of the comprehensive strategy, and we are now at the stage of beginning all-out project development. I am convinced that it is only when the regions become energized that Japan’s future will open up. The government will support the ambitious initiatives of the regions in the three aspects of information, human resources, and finances, and will accelerate regional vitalization.

In regard to decentralization reform, last year we established regional versions of Hello Work and enabled the use by the regions of the national Hello Work system. Also, we carefully considered the numerous proposals that we received from the regions, and were able to respond to more than 70 percent of them. However, there is no end to this reform. This year, we will continue to strongly advance decentralization reform based on regional ideas, maintaining the fundamental stance of listening carefully to the views of the regions.

The benefits of Abenomics are steadily spreading to every part of Japan. The ratio of job offers to job seekers, by employment area, reached more than 1.0 in all 47 prefectures for the first time since these statistics were first compiled in 1963. We will squarely face the issue of an aging society and declining birthrate, and transform Japan into a country that can grow. We will also carry out measures to implement the fourth industrial revolution, which fully utilizes IoT and artificial intelligence.

Through the realization of the largest GDP in postwar history of 600 trillion yen, the desired birthrate of 1.8 children per woman, and reducing the number of people who leave employment to provide nursing care to zero, we will create even stronger growth and build a mechanism for a positive cycle of growth and distribution. In the Plan to Realize the Dynamic Engagement of All Citizens, we have formulated a roadmap that maps out ten years into the future, and we will steadily advance this roadmap to realize a society in which all one hundred million-plus citizens are each dynamically engaged. In that process, it is important to resolve each issue that is faced by each region according to its own particular features. I strongly hope that all of you city council chairpersons, who are truly taking the lead in your respective communities, will freely express your abilities. The government will combine its strengths with regional initiatives for the benefit of everyone who lives in the regions, and so that we can definitely build regions where children can have dreams and hopes centered on  their individual regions.

I would like to end my greetings by once again promising that I will exert my best efforts, alongside yours. Congratulations on such a successful gathering.”