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On November 21, 2019, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe attended the 59th National Convention of the Central Federation of Societies of Commerce and Industry held in Tokyo.
 
The Prime Minister said in his address,
 
“I express my sincere congratulations to the 59th National Convention of the Central Federation of Societies of Commerce and Industry being held with such grandeur, today.
 
This is my third time attending this national convention as Prime Minister. As I thought I might now hold the record, I looked it up; it turns out that Prime Minister SATO Eisaku attended four times.
 
Prime Minister Sato shouldered his administration over seven consecutive years and eight months. In that sense, what is the secret to a long-standing administration? I believe it must be being nice to the Societies of Commerce and Industries.
 
If I may add just one point, this spring I attended the Reception at the Annual National Convention. In fact, this was the first time in history that a sitting prime minister attended this event. If we count this, it brings my total to four. Of course, I am not competing with Prime Minister Sato, but I just wanted to add this.
 
In every corner of Japan, the 800,000 members of the Societies of Commerce and Industries are supporting their respective local economies.
 
The Government will exert every effort to support the micro, small and medium enterprises who make significant contributions in their respective communities. This is the centerpiece of the economic policy of the Abe Cabinet, our unwavering basic policy.
 
I came here with that belief today. I am deeply pleased to have such an opportunity to meet with all of you, who represent the members of the Societies of Commerce and Industries across the county.
 
Chairperson Mori, in particular, I would also like to once again offer my appreciation to you for your efforts to travel actively across the country on a daily basis and deliver the voices of the micro, small and medium enterprises directly to the Government, particularly from those in the disaster affected areas.
 
To begin with, I would like to once again pray for the repose of the souls of those who lost their lives in the consecutive typhoons and heavy rains that have hit Japan since the summer, and extend my heartfelt sympathies to everyone who has been affected by these disasters.
 
In the disaster affected areas, many micro, small and medium enterprises have sustained tremendous damage to their stores, factories, or equipment facilities due to flooding. Amidst the harsh reality that they have also suffered damage to their own homes and could lose the motivation to rebuild, it is necessary that everyone works on resuming business with hope for tomorrow.
 
For that reason, we compiled a policy package towards the rebuilding of lives and ‘nariwai’ (occupations and livelihoods that sustain people’s daily lives), and as the first step to implement these measures immediately, a Cabinet decision was made to disburse over 130 billion yen of contingency funds.
 
We will provide attentive and thorough reach-out support including group subsidies and sustainable subsidies. While obtaining support from the members of the Societies of Commerce and Industries, we will make every effort to support the recovery and reconstruction of the micro, small and medium enterprises which sustain the local economies.
 
Next year is 2020. The Olympic and Paralympic games will come to Japan for the first time in half a century. Many people also gathered for the recent Shukuga-Onretsu-no-gi (Imperial Procession by Motorcar after the Ceremony of the Enthronement). The era of Reiwa has started, following the Imperial Succession this year.
 
Filled with a sense of dynamism towards this new era, now is the time to advance major future-oriented reforms.
 
With this in mind, when I attended the reception this year, I promised before you that we will not pass on this practice of individual bonds to the next generation and will implement a bold policy package to eliminate this practice in the Reiwa era.
 
Finally, we are starting to fulfill this promise. We will certainly carry out what we promised.
 
Firstly, this year we will formulate, before the end of this year, the special provisions on the Guidelines for Personal Guarantee Provided by Business Owners to prohibit the practice of asking for individual bonds from both the previous business owners and their successors simultaneously, in principle.
 
The Shoko Chukin Bank will start approving loans with no personal guarantee from the beginning of the New Year for their 30,000 cases annually, totaling 2 trillion yen, of new lending.
 
A new scheme in which the Credit Guarantee Corporations will provide guarantee without any individual bond when the successors obtain a loan will begin in the next fiscal year. This is a bold new measure to provide support for the improvement of management by business successors and even waive the guarantee fee for those who obtained the confirmation by experts following the Guidelines.
 
Once you fail, you lose everything. That prevents the owners from making another challenge. We must end this practice of overly focusing on individual bonds, and we will address this with the firm resolution of doing everything possible.
 
Furthermore, we will improve business relationships related to subcontracting and support the efforts to improve productivity making use of the Sustainability Subsidy. The Abe Cabinet will make every effort to support micro, small and medium enterprises throughout Japan through taking on unprecedented challenges.
 
To that end, above all, the cooperation of the 1,660 Societies of Commerce and Industry across the country is indispensable. With the 800,000 members of the Societies of Commerce and Industries and the Government forming a scrum, as "One Team,” let us pave the way of the new era of Reiwa together. Congratulations on this successful gathering today. Thank you.”