Top �� What's up around the Prime Minister �� May, 2004

The First Meeting of the Headquarters for the Promotion of Regulatory Reform and Opening up to the Private Sector Tuesday, May 25, 2004 The first meeting of the Headquarters for the Promotion of Regulatory Reform and Opening up to the Private Sector was held at the Prime Minister's Official Residence. The Headquarters was newly established inside the Cabinet, with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi as the Chair, for the purpose of promoting further progress in regulatory reform and opening up to the private sector from the perspective of advancing structural reform of economic society. The Headquarters intends to promote regulatory reform and opening up to the private sector by closely cooperating with the Council for Regulatory Reform and Opening up to the Private Sector (Chair: Mr. Yoshihiko Miyauchi) that was established inside the Cabinet Office in April. At the meeting, the "Basic Policy on Regulatory Reform and Opening up to the Private Sector" was decided upon. This Basic Policy defines the promotion of regulatory reform and opening up to the private sector of the government market and administrative services that have high government involvement as a vital issue when working for the realization of job creation and a vibrant economic society as well as to materialize an affluent living of the people where they can receive high-quality, diverse services. Addressing the meeting, Prime Minister Koizumi said, "Regulatory reform is one of the pillars of the structural reform which Koizumi Cabinet puts most of its efforts into. I am sure that when one raises an issue for reform, an adverse opinion must be forthcoming from another. Highlighting the point at issue and showing the people the necessity of such reform in a comprehensible manner, I would like to further advance this regulatory reform."