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On November 6, 2018, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held the 21st meeting of the Council on Investments for the Future at the Prime Minister’s Office.
 
At the meeting, a discussion was held on regional policy measures.
 
Based on the discussion, the Prime Minister said,
 
“Today, we held a discussion regarding regional policy measures with a focus on the issues of business integration, such as for local banks and fixed route buses.
 
Local banks and fixed route buses, among other businesses, provide services that are indispensable to local residents, and the maintenance of such services is an issue of national importance. Therefore, it is our challenge to consolidate business management, such as local banks and fixed route bus companies, which are facing deterioration in their respective business environment. It is critical to take into consideration the maintenance of local infrastructure and the prevention of the harmful effects of competition policy in a well-balanced manner and make decisions in the application of the Antimonopoly Act. With the maintenance of services in the regions as the premise, I will emphasize this once again as this is the important point; based on the premise of maintaining services in the regions, when considering the integration of businesses such as local banks and fixed route buses, I would like to consider creating a framework to make such business integration possible, or establishing transparent rules in order to enable decision-making with predictability. I would like to ask you to carry out necessary considerations over this issue, including those with experts, and report to this council. We will incorporate the outcome of the review into the implementation plan that will be decided on by summer next year.
 
Furthermore, in order to address the shortage of human resources in the regions, we will secure diverse human resources who support local economies, by strengthening measures to accelerate the trend of young people and others to relocate to these regions, create an environment to generate U-turns (from their hometown in a local district to a city and back), I-turns (from their hometown in a local district to a different local district) and J-turns (from their hometown in a local district to a nearby city), mechanisms to increase  diverse types of individuals including middle-aged and elderly workers with rich practical experience so as to enhance regional vitality. We will also advance the development of frameworks aimed at revitalizing regions that are experiencing rapidly declining populations. Furthermore, I would like you to consider concrete measures to address issues such as improving the productivity of small and medium-sized enterprises, including manufacturing companies, which support the local economies, and resolving the issues that central and core cities are facing.

I would like to ask Minister in charge of Economic Revitalization Motegi, Minister in charge of Regional Revitalization Katayama, and the relevant ministers to move forward on consideration based on the today’s opinions for the implementation plan by next summer.”