[Provisional Translation]

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held the 16th meeting in 2016 of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy at the Prime Minister's Office.

At the meeting, there was discussion related to “regulatory reform toward the creation of socioeconomic and science and technology innovation” and “promotion of focused expenditure reform.”

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

“It is vital that we continue to generate innovation in order to increase the latent growth rate of the Japanese economy toward the goal of achieving a 600 trillion yen economy. To that end, the Government and private sector must work in unison to increase investments into research and development.

I would like the relevant ministers to build on the proposals from private sector members and work on fundamental policies to strengthen the budget for science and technology and innovation, so that we can maximize private sector investment through appropriate budget allocations.

In addition, the extent to which we can stimulate private sector investment will be key for increasing the latent growth rate of the Japanese economy. I expect increased cooperation from the business world on the active enhancement of private sector investment for research and development. The specialist committee will deepen its discussion by the end of the year. I want to discuss the matter again based on the report of that committee.

Additionally, we must steadily promote expenditure reform in order to achieve fiscal soundness by FY2020. Today, we began deliberations on the prioritized reforms to be carried out toward the formulation of the FY2017 budget. Private sector members offered advice such as, ‘We should halve regional disparities in per capita medical costs,’ and ‘We should offer exceptions related to the high cost of medicines in line with changes to the state of this issue.’

Going forward, I would like all relevant ministers, including Minister Shiozaki, to deepen deliberations, realize response measures, and accelerate expenditure reform.”