Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda held the 16th meeting of the Local Sovereignty Strategy Council at the Prime Minister's Office.

Discussion took place on the efforts and outcomes of local sovereignty reforms, and the general abolition of ministerial branch offices.

The Prime Minister said in his opening address, "I believe that so far this council on local sovereignty reforms, which holds discussions concerning the reformation of this country and is positioned as an extremely important council, is making steady efforts on issues such as the revision of the system of obligations (gimuzuke) and frameworks (wakuzuke) imposed [by the central government] on the regions [as a condition for using grant funds], the issue of introducing subsidies in the form of block grants, and the legislation of the Forum for Consultations between the National and Regional Governments.
During such efforts, the issue of the elimination of ministerial branch offices in principle has been discussed actively at the promotion committee of the Action Plan, following the direction set at the end of last year. I believe that today we reached the stage where it is possible to discuss the draft of the basic structure.
If it is approved today, I would like to submit the bill during the current ordinary Diet session. I would like to accelerate the work to realize this."