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Third Meeting of the Central Council on Promotion of Measures for Persons with Disabilities Monday, October 29, 2007 JAPANESE

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda held the third meeting of the Central Council on Promotion of Measures for Persons with Disabilities at the Prime Minister's Official Residence. The Council is established to hear opinions from persons with disabilities, social welfare operators and academics, in order to prepare and amend a draft for the Basic Plan for Persons with Disabilities, designed to promote policies related to the welfare of persons with disabilities and the prevention of disabilities. The Basic Plan, which prescribes the basic direction of measures to be taken for the ten years from FY2003 to FY2012, stipulates the goal of realizing a society of mutual cooperation, the society Japan should strive to realize in the 21st century, in which all of the people, whether disabled or not, mutually respect each other's personalities and characteristics and support one another. The Council is working to confirm the status of progress of the Basic Plan and to prepare for a new Five-Year Implementation Plan for Priority Measures, as this year marks the midpoint of the duration of the Basic Plan. At the start of the meeting, Prime Minister Fukuda said, "There have been changes made to the system related to policies for persons with disabilities since the formulation of the current plan, and the new five-year implementation plan should reflect the implementation status of items in the revised system. I am determined to steadily promote our commitment to realizing a society of mutual cooperation pursuant to the Basic Plan and the new five-year implementation plan."