On September 27, 2021, the Prime Minister attended a preparatory meeting of the collaborative platform for loneliness and isolation measures (provisional name) virtually from the Prime Minister’s Office.

Following the discussion, the Prime Minister said,
 
 “The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has a prolonged impact on every corner of our society. The issue of unwanted loneliness and isolation has become more serious. In particular, the number of suicides last year rose over the previous year for the first time in 11 years, and the situation cannot be overlooked. On the other hand, we believe that you have faced tremendous difficulties during your activities to provide counseling and support for and to create places of belonging for those in need due to significant restrictions amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
In light of these circumstances, the Government must work as one to tackle this issue of loneliness and isolation. With this in mind, I appointed Minister Sakamoto as Minister in charge of Loneliness and Isolation in February this year. In March, we implemented emergency measures worth 6 billion yen to support non-profit organizations (NPOs) and other groups. Under the leadership of Minister Sakamoto, we are pushing ahead with our efforts, while listening to your opinions. Going forward, we will continue to provide support for NPOs and other groups that serve as a bridge between those in need and administration, including budgetary measures every fiscal year.
 
We are having a preparatory meeting of the collaborative platform for loneliness and isolation measures today. We believe that this issue requires approaches from various angles and that it is important for many support groups, including all of you who have attended this meeting, to utilize settings like this and have broad and continuous collaboration, with their hearts united. We hope that this platform will help expand the circle of collaboration among NPOs and other groups, thereby significantly contributing to the creation of a society where no one feels alone. We would appreciate your cooperation.”