Press Conference by the Minister for Financial Services

(Excerpt)

January 21 , 2003

After the Cabinet meeting, the new Headquarters for the Promotion of Special Zones for Structural Reform held a meeting, which was the first one since the enactment of the Law on the Special Zones for Structural Reform. Today was the deadline for the second round of proposals, so the status of the proposals was reported and the Basic Policy on the Special Zones for Structural Reform was decided. While Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is the Chief of the Headquarters, I am serving as the Deputy-Chief. I stated that the special zones are extremely important and that the members should examine what needs to be done in order to fulfill them in the second round of proposals, including those rejected in the first round of proposals.

Mr. Koizumi also made a powerful statement, that the special zones are extremely important, and that neither government ministries nor agencies should intervene with additional requirements --for example, in the form of administrative guidance-- other than those decided under the Basic Policy, legislations and so forth. Further, as for future issues, he called on the Ministers to actively give guidance to government ministries and agencies in view of what should be done for their fulfillment.

The second round of proposals attracted a huge number of submissions, totaling more than 600. Particularly noteworthy is the fact that we had much more submissions this time, such as those from private enterprises, which were fairly limited in the first round of proposals. We would like to take advantage of this new trend.