Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda held the first meeting of the Government and Ruling Parties Council on the Formulation of the Budget at the Prime Minister's Office.

The Council has been established for the Government and the ruling parties to work together in formulating the FY2012 budget, under the Prime Minister as its chair, and will discuss the prioritization of budget allocation in line with the Program to Prioritize the Revival of Japan and key issues in the process of budget formulation.

At this meeting, a decision was made to establish a working-level meeting and discussion took place on the procedures for discussion.

The Prime Minister said in his opening address, "Now that we have established a budget scheme to prioritize the revival of Japan, I believe what is most crucial will be how we could achieve strategic budget formulation with clear priorities.
We will be deciding on that scheme through the discussion carried out mainly at working-level talks of the Government and the ruling parties. I would greatly appreciate if you could discuss with the stance of spending in the most effective way ever seen in the past."