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[Provisional Translation]

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe attended the General Assembly of Japan's National Council for Export Promotion of Agricultural, Forestry and Fishery Products and Processed Foods (JAECAP 2016) held in Tokyo.

The Prime Minister said in his address,

“I would like to offer some congratulatory remarks upon the opening of JAECAP 2016.

To begin, I would like to express my heartfelt congratulations to everyone awarded for their distinguished contributions to the diffusion of Japanese food overseas. Congratulations. All of you have worked wholeheartedly over long periods and have overcome various hardships for the diffusion of Japanese food in places overseas with different food customs. You have my deep respect for the way that you took the lead on the export of Japanese agricultural, forestry and fishery products and foods, and pioneered new markets.

The G7 Ise-Shima Summit was held in May this year. We served food made with Japanese ingredients, as well as Japanese alcohol and wine, to the leaders of each country and everyone who gathered from all over the world for that meeting. Everyone truly enjoyed the food that was served, and I watched intently to see if they would like the wine. Even Chancellor Merkel of Germany and President Hollande of France seemed to relish the wine, going as far as to ask for more when they were done. Seeing that, I felt proud to know that Japanese wine has at last achieved a quality on par with wine from the rest of the world. All the drinks served were extremely well received. I have heard that there has been a rush of orders from both within and outside of Japan for the sake, Hanzo, served for the toast during the working dinner, to the extent that it is now so popular that its makers cannot ship enough of it to keep up with the demand.

There is still room to sell even more of our delicious and safe Japanese products to people overseas. I feel renewed certainty about this.

The export of agricultural, forestry and fishery products and foods is extremely important for our work to turn the agriculture, forestry and fishery industries into growth industries. The Abe Cabinet, myself included, is making efforts to encourage exports, including by taking the opportunities of my trips overseas to communicate directly with leading figures in each country about the charms of Japan’s food culture.

As a result, last year, the value of exports of agricultural, forestry and fishery products and foods out of Japan was approximately 750 billion yen. The Abe Cabinet has set a new record each year for the exports in the area for the past three years in a row.

Global food markets continue to expand, mainly in Asia. We can further grow our exports by actively working to satisfy that demand.

And then there is the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The TPP presents a tremendous chance to expand exports of Japan’s agricultural, forestry and fishery products.

For that reason, we have moved forward our goal of exporting 1 trillion yen worth of goods annually by one year, and now aim to achieve this by 2019. Toward the achievement of that goal, based on the strategy to strengthen the exports of agricultural, forestry and fishery products established in May of this year, we are working to accelerate ambitious private initiatives that are working to expand exports.

Together with Minister Yamamoto and everyone in attendance today, I hope we can work together to expand exports of our wonderful Japanese agricultural, forestry and fishery products and food even further.

In closing, I would like to conclude my congratulatory remarks by wishing everyone here continued success and good health.”