Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda attended the meeting of the Forum for Consultations between the National and Regional Governments held at the Prime Minister's Office.

Discussion took place on the FY2013 budget requests, the draft plan of the guidelines for the promotion of local sovereignty, and the reform of the local civil servant system.

The Prime Minister said in his opening address,

"We have held this Forum for Consultations between the National and Regional Governments 14 times in total, including subcommittees, since its legislation.
Today, I would like for today as well to hold discussions with the representatives of regional governments, as partners for dialogues on an equal footing, on national policies that have influence on local autonomy.

As Mr. Inami had said shortly before, we have three themes on today's agenda.
One is the FY2013 budget requests. I would like to ask you to give frank opinions from your position of providing services that are close to resident's daily life.
As for the second theme of the guidelines for the promotion of local sovereignty, we received a broad range of opinions from you in the previous meeting of the Forum for Consultations between the National and Regional Governments.
Today, based on the basic plan for the guidelines, we would like to develop discussions for establishing a mechanism for local governments to implement measures according to regional requests in a more autonomous and comprehensive manner.
In addition, as for the third theme, I would like to ask your opinions on the reform of the local civil servant system.
I expect today's meeting will be a fruitful one with many opinions from you, and I would like to ask for your cooperation."