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| Top What's up around the Prime Minister February, 2002 |
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The Fourth Meeting of the Municipal Merger Assistance Headquarters
Thursday, February 21, 2002
The fourth meeting of the Municipal Merger Assistance Headquarters was held at the Prime Minister's Official Residence.
At the meeting, the "Interim Policy on Assisting Municipal Mergers" was decided upon. According to the policy, the Government will steadily implement projects based on the Municipal Merger Assistance Plan adopted last year, and as a public relations effort, to host a series of Relay Symposium and Symposium for Enhancing Assistance for Municipal Mergers. The Government will also draw up a new policy on promoting mergers.
At the outset of the meeting, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi stated, "Under the structural reform being advanced by the Koizumi Cabinet, one of the major goals is to realize a society in which wisdom in the private sector and in the regional communities bring about vitality and prosperity. Furthermore, under the principle that all that can be done by the private sector should be left in its hands, and all that can be done in the regional communities should be left in their hands, further advancing mergers is an extremely important issue. Currently there are about 2000 municipalities which consider mergers, and we intend to move forward with the goal of realizing 1000 municipalities in the end. As the role of the regional communities increases, they will need to possess a certain scale. From that perspective, I would like to call upon all of you for even greater cooperation and assistance in order to achieve these goals." |
