Thursday, November 6, 2008

The Prime Minister Meets the Chair of the Decentralization Reform Committee

Prime Minister Taro Aso, together with Mr. Kunio Hatoyama, Minister of State for Decentralization Reform, met Mr. Uichiro Niwa, Chair of the Decentralization Reform Committee, at the Prime Minister's Office.

Mr. Niwa　gave an explanation on the reform of regional offices of the national government, a subject that the Committee is currently discussing for the compilation of the 2nd round of advice. He presented his views on simplifying the dual administration, which would take place after eliminating regional offices and reviewing the roles to be played by the central and local governments, as well as on reviewing the local governments' obligation to laws and ordinances.

In response, Prime Minister Aso said, "I would like to see to it that regional offices of the national government, which are beyond the reach of public and Diet scrutiny, are in fact within the bounds of their scrutiny. Today I talked about the fundamental integration, and touched on, as an example, the possible elimination of regional agricultural administration offices [of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries] and of regional development bureaus [of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism]. I expect that deliberations will move forward in that direction."