The newly reshuffled third Cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was inaugurated on August 3. Eleven new members joined the 19-member Cabinet.
Yuji Yamamoto, former State Minister in charge of financial policy, was appointed as the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
Yuji Yamamoto, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, visited the Prime Minister’s Office to attend the first meeting of the new Cabinet. (Nagata-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo)
Economic Revitalization Minister Nobuteru Ishihara continues to be the Minister in charge of the Trans-Pacific partnership (TPP) free trade pack.
At the Cabinet meeting after the reshuffle, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe directed those ministers to make every effort to seek ratification of the TPP pact at the extraordinary session of the Diet this autumn as well as accelerate the structural reform of Japanese agriculture.
At the press conference held at the Prime Minister’s Office on the same day, Shinzo Abe told the reporters “Reforms of the agricultural policy cannot wait any longer. We have to carry out the structural reform of Japanese agriculture in every aspect of production, distribution and processing of farm products by accepting the TPP trade agreement as a great chance for our agriculture. I am sure the structural reform will pave the way to a new era of the farm policy.”
Meanwhile, the ratification of the TPP free trade pact is expected to be one of the most controversial agendas at the Diet session this autumn.
During the campaign of the Upper House election last month, opposition parties stirred up opposition to the TPP pact. “A TPP tug-of-war” is expected to take place between the ruling and opposite parties at the Diet.