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22nd Meeting of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy in 2007 Thursday, October 4, 2007 JAPANESE

The Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy held its first meeting after the inauguration of the Fukuda Cabinet, and a discussion took place on future management policy for the Council. At the beginning of the meeting, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said in his address, "I have attended the meeting of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy since its establishment. The Council has been playing an extremely important role in advancing various economic and fiscal reforms since the days of Mori Cabinet. For the question about whether or not we have advanced reforms sufficiently enough, we have to remind ourselves that Japan faces difficult issues such as the full-fledged population decline, increasing expenses for social security services caused by falling birth rates and aging society, globalization and global environmental issues. In order to overcome these challenges and create a more mature society, we must advance reforms with our eyes fixed on the future of Japan and revise systems and organizations that are no longer befitting the present times." For the future advancement of the meeting, the Council members agreed to deliberate on three prioritized issues of rebuilding of regional economies; the social security system and its revenue sources (social security and tax); and expenditure reforms toward the formulation of the next fiscal year's budget.