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Council for Comprehensive Review of Administrative Expenditures Thursday, August 7, 2008 JAPANESE

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda attended the 1st meeting of the Council for Comprehensive Review of Administrative Expenditures at the Prime Minister's Office. With a top priority task of the Cabinet being to thoroughly correct inappropriate expenditures to restore the people's trust in the administration as a whole, the Council under the Chief Cabinet Secretary calls on the expert members to present their opinions toward eliminating wasteful spending from the public's viewpoint. At the meeting, the members exchanged opinions on such matters as perspectives on scrutinizing expenditures to cut spending to the public interest corporations and in special budget accounts. At the start of the meeting, Prime Minister Fukuda addressed the members by saying, "As we are all aware, there have been various criticisms of the Government's spending when it comes to the modality of the administrative body. Given the current fiscal state, cutting unnecessary spending is a task that we must tackle regardless of criticism. I believe it is necessary for the Government to learn from the private sector's initiatives. From that perspective, I ask the members gathered here today to make full use of your expertise and give us advice for bringing about a positive reform."