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On April 17, 2019, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held the 39th meeting of the Council on National Strategic Special Zones at the Prime Minister’s Office.
 
At the meeting, a discussion was held on the certification of special zone plans, evaluation of the designated zones, and the Bill for the Partial Amendment of the National Strategic Special Zones Law.
 
Based on the discussion, the Prime Minister said,
 
“Today, we discussed a new system, which utilizes the national strategic zone system, for the Super City Initiative.
 
As the Fourth Industrial Revolution sweeps across the world, data is the engine propelling the growth of the next era. The utilization of AI and Big Data holds the key to success in resolving various social issues such as medical care and mobility, against the backdrop of the rapidly declining birthrate and aging population.  
 
In order to carve out our future as Society 5.0 faster than others, we are required to implement various innovations into our everyday lives swiftly, going beyond their development and verification. The Super City Initiative will be precisely the pioneer of our efforts, which crystalizes the vision of cities in the era of Society 5.0, based on the consumers’ perspective. To that end, we must depart from the sector-based silo mindset and promote bold regulatory reforms. I intend to further advance the reforms of bedrock regulations with the national strategic special zone system by promoting the Super City Initiative. I would like to ask the relevant ministries to join forces and act speedily so as to put unprecedented scale of regulatory reforms forward with greater momentum.”