Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda held the first meeting of the Council on National Strategy and Policy at the Prime Minister's Office.

Discussion took place on formulating a basic strategy for revitalizing Japan and other matters.

The Prime Minister said in his opening address, "At this turning point of the era, there is the question of whether Japan will continue down the path toward becoming a country in the corner of the Far East that has a large elderly population and lacks vigor as a result of the declining birthrate and aging population and energy constraints, or whether Japan will once again become a vibrant country filled with business and life opportunities. Bearing in mind this underlying question, I would be grateful if active discussions take place on the basic policy under which Japan will implement strategic undertakings in response to a variety of domestic and global issues.
I would like us to put our minds together to create a vision for strategically resolving the national issues. At times, I would also like discussions to take place on key policy issues of the respective aspects, including the outline of the budget.
Also, while we must accelerate implementation of the New Growth Strategy, a variety of circumstances have changed since the earthquake. Once again, a major task we have at hand is to create a basic strategy by the end of the year for revitalizing Japan.
At any event, I ask for your cooperation to gather the wisdom and efforts of the industrial, government, and academic sectors for this Council to function as a control tower for the revitalization of Japan."