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On December 10, 2018, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held the 16th meeting of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy in 2018, at the Prime Minister’s Office.
 
At the meeting, a discussion was held on the draft reform schedule including social security, a thematic topic of the Integrated Economic and Fiscal Reforms, followed by those towards the 2025 Japan World Exposition (Osaka, Kansai).
 
Based on the discussions, the Prime Minister said,
 
“Today, the Council first gave consideration to the draft reform schedule to implement the New Plan to Advance Economic and Fiscal Revitalization. There can be no fiscal consolidation without economic revitalization. This is the basic policy of the Abe Cabinet. This new schedule, which specifically lays out our responses to important issues in each of the major areas and our initiatives toward the expenditure reform and others, is of great significance, to the extent that we can call it a nautical chart showing the direction of the Cabinet’s Integral Economic and Fiscal Reform, so to speak.
 
As the private sector members of this Council pointed out today, I would like Minister Motegi to work steadily to compile a concrete, quantitative, and effective reform schedule by the end of the year. I would also like Minister of Finance Aso and the other relevant ministers to provide their full cooperation.  
 
We also held discussions on the 2025 World Exposition, as the second topic. Minister Seko went all the way to Paris and worked persistently right until the very end. I would like to express once again my gratitude and respect to everyone who worked so hard to win the bid.
 
When I was a child, Japan hosted the Tokyo Olympics in 1964 and the Osaka Expo in 1970. At that time, I believe the Japanese pubic became aware that Japan was now part of the global community. I hope that we too, living in modern times and poised before a historical turning point, can leverage the events of 2020 and 2025 and work together to create an era that fills people with energy, just as some of the private sector members have proposed, looking ahead beyond the Heisei period, and lead the upcoming Expo in Osaka to great success.   
 
The Government will work toward these goals through an all-Japan effort, with the support of the local communities and the business community. I ask for your continued cooperation in these endeavors.”