The government plans to compile measures aimed at protecting Japanese nationals overseas as early as March following the recent terrorism incident in Algeria that resulted in the deaths of 10 Japanese, officials said Tuesday.
"The government must work as one to apply the lessons learned from the incident to ensure that Japanese firms can safely operate overseas and that the precious lives have not been sacrificed in vain," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Tuesday at the first meeting of a government panel to examine the Algeria hostage case, in which a total of 37 foreigners were killed.
All 10 Japanese victims of the gas plant attack by Islamic militants were employees of engineering firm JGC Corp.