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On October 21, Prime Minister Naoto Kan attended the third meeting of the Council on the Realization of the New Growth Strategy, held at the Prime Minister’s Office. In his address at the start of the meeting, Kan called for the cooperation and understanding of the assembled Cabinet members and Council members, saying, “Today, I would like us to engage in discussions about the most significant issue, which is the promotion of economic partnerships and Japanese agriculture. I hope that our discussions about this issue will be meaningful, both for the future of Japan and for the role of the regions. The world is currently changing at great speed, and I would like to ask for your cooperation in ensuring that this Council on the Realization of the New Growth Strategy will steer Japan in the right direction.”
Following the meeting, Vice Minister of State for the Cabinet Office Tatsuo Hirano held a press conference at the Cabinet Office. He reported that Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Michihiko Kano, Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Yoshihiro Katayama and Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Sumio Mabuchi had attended the meeting, and explained that following comments from council members on the promotion of economic partnership and Japan’s agricultural sector, as well as the so-called “Comprehensive Special Zone System” (for creating special economic zones within Japan), the assembled members had engaged in a free discussion of the issues.
With regard to the issue of economic partnership and Japanese agriculture, Hirano expressed the opinion that “the issue of such economic partnerships as FTAs (Free Trade Agreements), EPAs (Economic Partnership Agreements) and the TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) is not so simple that it can be completely decided at the forthcoming APEC meeting, and I would like to make the point that it is important to engage in a variety of debate going forward.”
Hirano also commented that “I believe this issue is not one that can be decided by a single party or by a number of individual politicians, but that it is necessary for us to engage in a heightened national and non-partisan debate about the choice that Japan should make.”
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