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On February 26, 2019, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held the 3rd meeting of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy in 2019 at the Prime Minister’s Office.
 
At the meeting, a discussion was held on reforms toward realizing next-generation administrative services and regional revitalization.
 
Based on the discussion, the Prime Minister said,
 
“Today, we first discussed reforms towards next-generation administrative services. Among the various initiatives aiming at Society 5.0, the administrative services in national and local governments lag furthest behind. We should implement various initiatives, changing the way we work, so as to maintain the quality of administrative services amidst population decline and an ageing society. I believe that today’s discussions were based on quite a strong sense of urgency.
 
Based on the new proposals from the experts here today, we would like to continue our detailed discussions at this council and ensure they lead to actions. The Abe Cabinet will accelerate its all-out efforts in this area, centered on the Chief Cabinet Secretary, who chairs the Digital Government Ministers’ Meeting, with the cooperation of Minister Hirai, Minister Ishida, and other relevant ministers.
 
Afterwards, we held a discussion on regional revitalization. Looking beyond the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, we need to strengthen our capability to create revenue streams making full use of the characteristics of each area. To that end, it is important to increase the flows of people, money, and services into areas outside the major cities.
 
In particular, it would be an effective approach to promote inbound tourism, agricultural, forestry and fishery exports, and inward direct investment in an integrated manner. There can be no revitalization of Japan without vibrant regions. This is also an important issue for our economic and fiscal policy. I ask Minister Katayama and the relevant ministers to further review this matter while taking into consideration the points raised by the experts here today and I would like to hold a discussion on regional revitalization at this Council based on that.”