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On May 11, 2021, the Prime Minister attended a Liaison Meeting of the Government and Ruling Parties at the Prime Minister’s Office.

In the opening, the Prime Minister said,
 
 “We are engaging in continued deliberations on important bills in the Diet which are directly linked to people’s lives, including the healthcare reform bill, and I will participate in the deliberations on the digital transformation bill in the House of Councillors after this meeting. The Government intends to respond with a sense of urgency in order to steadily enact each and every bill in this Diet session. I would like to ask for continued cooperation of the ruling parties.
 
We extended the declaration of a state of emergency to remain in effect until the end of this month and added Aichi and Fukuoka Prefectures to the areas covered by the declaration. From now we will comprehensively implement measures expected to be highly effective, including suspending the serving of alcohol and offering of karaoke services, taking countermeasures to curb the flow of people during nighttime, and promoting teleworking, thereby preventing the spread of infections. We also added Hokkaido, Gifu, and Mie Prefectures to the areas where priority measures to prevent the spread of disease are in effect. We will contain infections by implementing intensive countermeasures in close collaboration with each prefecture.
 
At the same time, I will spearhead our utmost efforts to proceed with vaccination, the decisive factor of the countermeasures against the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Full-scale inoculation has started in one municipality after another across the country from this week, and we will launch large-scale vaccinations centers in Tokyo and Osaka on May 24th. We will engage in all possible means to support local governments to finish administering the second dose of the vaccine to all elderly persons who wish to receive vaccination, with the end of July in mind. Meanwhile, we will flexibly respond to ensure that municipalities with prospects of completing vaccination of the elderly can start the inoculation of the general public, including those with underlying conditions, within June, so that as many people as possible can receive vaccination.
 
With regard to the schedule for the supply of vaccines, we have already informed each local government of the supply by the end of June. In addition, in order to secure doctors and nurses, I directly asked for cooperation of the President of the Japan Medical Association and the President of the Japan Nursing Association, while we have taken specific measures, including supporting the expansion of the system on holidays and during nighttime. We will carefully listen to the situation of each municipality and steadily tackle challenges one by one, thereby ensuring the swift inoculation of all the people wishing to receive vaccines and restoring secure daily lives at the earliest possible time. I would like to seek the understanding and cooperation of the ruling parties.
 
I announced at the Leaders Summit on Climate last month that we decided to set a target to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions by 46 percent in fiscal year 2030 from the fiscal year 2013 levels while continuing to take on a challenge to aim at the goal of cutting our emissions by 50 percent. Toward the G7 Summit in the United Kingdom in mid-June, we will advance discussions on concrete measures regarding our energy policy and steps against global warming, listening to the views of the ruling parties at the same time.
 
We will also advance discussions in order to formulate the Basic Policy on Economic and Fiscal Management and Reform, or the basic stance of the government's economic and fiscal management in June this year. While prioritizing tackling urgent challenges of countermeasures against COVID-19 and vaccination, with the post-COVID-19 era in mind, we will build up a robust economy, through such measures as promoting green and digital fields and raising the revenues of people living in rural areas. On top of that, we will come up with solutions to long-standing issues, including countermeasures against the declining birthrate. We would like to draw up an even more robust Basic Policy. From now on, we intend to accelerate our work, while listening to the views of the ruling parties. Therefore, I would appreciate your cooperation.”