Press Conference by the Chief Cabinet Secretary (Excerpt)

Opening Statement by Chief Cabinet Secretary Fujimura

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY FUJIMURA: I would like to give an overview of the Cabinet meeting. The meeting approved 37 general and other measures and the promulgation of a treaty, cabinet orders, and personnel decisions. With regard to statements by ministers, Minister Motohisa Furukawa made a statement concerning the Basic Principles of the Budget Formulation for FY2012. The Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology made a statement concerning the holding of the 23rd World Scout Jamboree. The Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications made a statement concerning the FY2011 White Paper on Fire and Disaster Management. Prime Minister Noda made a statement concerning a temporary acting Prime Minister while the Prime Minister is on an overseas visit.

In ministerial discussions following the Cabinet meeting, Minister Renho and the Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications, respectively, made a statement concerning the guidelines compiled by the Government Remedy System Study Team.

I would like to speak about the Basic Principles of the Budget Formulation for FY2012 that was decided a moment ago. The Basic Principles of the Budget Formulation for FY2012 was approved by the Cabinet based on the discussions held at the Council on National Strategy and Policy, following the considerations made by the Government and ruling party and final discussions held at the meeting of the Ministerial Committee on the Formulation of the Budget which was convened prior to today's Cabinet Meeting. Based on the concept of turning crises into opportunities, the Basic Principles have as their themes for the FY2012 budget: "resolute implementation of the New Growth Strategy"; and "challenges for the starting year of the revitalization of Japan." It has been decided that the FY2012 budget will be formulated based on its identification as a budget for the starting year of Japan's revitalization. Utmost efforts will be made for the revitalization of Japan based on the five priority areas of: 1) Reconstruction from the Great East Japan Earthquake; 2) Paving the way for the economic frontier; 3) Reviving a large middle class; 4) Revitalization of agriculture, forestry and fisheries; and 5) Redesigning energy and environment policies. Furthermore, it was decided that guidelines, such as those on fiscal discipline set forth in the Medium-term Fiscal Framework in August, will be fully complied with. Moving forward, the Government will work to finalize the budget formulation process based on these Basic Principles. For details, please direct your questions to Minister for National Policy Furukawa.

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Q&As

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REPORTER: According to some reports, during the Japan-India summit meeting to be held in India at the end of the year, Japan is expected to unveil a 350 billion yen financing package for infrastructure development in India. Can you please comment on this?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY FUJIMURA: It was yesterday I believe that this was discussed also at the discussion on infrastructure packages. Among the infrastructure packages is something called the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor Project. At present, arrangements are being made to ensure that Prime Minister Noda's visit to India is as fruitful as possible. I am aware of the content of the news reports. However, we are still at the stage of working out the details moving forward.

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