Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda attended a meeting of the Council on the Promotion of the "New Public Commons" at the Prime Minister's Office.

At this meeting, opinions were exchanged on the current state of the "New Public Commons" and the direction for future promotion.

Based on the discussion, the Prime Minister said,

"I consider that the promotion of the 'New Public Commons' is in a way the most typical example of what is unique about the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ). Looking back these three years, I believe there have been some areas that may not have progressed had the DPJ not taken over the government, such as the expansion of tax incentives for donations or the simplification of procedures for the certification of NPOs. Particularly, I understand that the number of certified NPOs increased 2.5 times in these three years.

After the Great East Japan Earthquake, many NPOs went to the actual site. They implemented steady and long-term support activities that touch the feelings of disaster-stricken people, which are continuing even now. I believe this should be evaluated highly. Precisely the core potential of the idea of the 'New Public Commons' is currently being exerted. I believe we must put our efforts into activities such as the thorough dissemination of knowledge on the system of certified NPOs so that even wider activities can be implemented.

From now on, it will be important to further increase the independence and sustainability of such activities. For example, it is important to reinforce the financial base that allows the activities to not only rely on administration. It should also be necessary to further instill a culture of donation in Japan, which is still underdeveloped compared to Western countries. I think we must not abandon our hope that a culture of donation will take root in Japan, and I believe that we must definitely gather our wisdom regarding this issue in the future.

There should still be various roles that the government should serve in order to improve people's understanding on the idea of the 'New Public Commons,' and win their understanding. I rather believe that we should assume some important roles.

I once again realized today that I should ask each ministry to first try to understand what kind of people and groups are engaged in the activities in the area each ministry is in charge of, by also referring to the opinions of experts, and then exercise wisdom in further supportive measures such as diffusing that information."