Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda held the 17th meeting of the Local Sovereignty Strategy Council at the Prime Minister's Office.

Discussion took place on the draft plan of the guidelines for the promotion of local sovereignty, and the general abolition of ministerial branch offices.

The Prime Minister said in his opening address,

"As for the guidelines for the promotion of local sovereignty, we are working on the preparation for its formulation, based on the outcomes of the efforts on local sovereignty reforms so far, and for the further promotion of reforms.
In today's meeting, I would like you to discuss the draft plan of the guidelines, and to further improve the content based on your opinions.
While the reform of the system of obligations (gimuzuke) and frameworks (wakuzuke) imposed on the regions is achieving steady results, we must move yet another step forward to consider proposals from regions related to the fourth review.
I would like to continuously carry forward the review so as to respond to the proposals from the regions as much as possible.
Regarding the general abolition of ministerial branch offices, I would like to move on with our efforts for the submission of a bill to this session of the Diet, by taking into consideration the opinions of relevant parties including municipalities.
For an administration under the initiative of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), local sovereignty reform is the top prioritized issue of reform.
We will continue with our steady promotion of efforts for local sovereignty reforms. I expect your active discussion."