Prime Minister Naoto Kan attended the third meeting of the Review Meeting on Economic Situations held at the Prime Minister's Office.

Discussion took place on the current state of the economy and the future economic and fiscal management policy.

Based on the discussion, the Prime Minister said, "The Council has started deliberations on the prospects for the economy, including the macroeconomy, in response to the great earthquake disaster.
I believe that the recent earthquake disaster and the nuclear incident have strongly reminded me and many other people of two things. One thing is that the humanity has been living in harmony with the greatness and power of nature and has also been tempered by it, while sustaining damage from it in various ways. How are we going to deal with this relationship with nature as we move forward? The other thing is that we have been made to think deeply once again about kizuna -- the bonds of friendship -- among each and every human being.
Looking at the current situation, in the midst of many existing crises such as the sluggish economy or the fact that more than 30,000 people commit suicide each year, we have been further hit by another crisis: the great earthquake disaster and the nuclear incident. How are we going to overcome these difficulties to make a fresh start? I feel that this question is the starting point of today's discussion on the macroeconomy.
We will have a lot of issues to be addressed going forward, such as a first supplementary budget. I want the Council to discuss a broad concept of how we make a new start, from a perspective of how we could, in the mid- to long-term, move from the great earthquake disaster and step in to the next stage of Japan and of the world."