After several days of wrangling over financial stabilization bills, opposition parties on Tuesday agreed to a policy chiefs-level meeting with the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
The Democratic Party of Japan, the largest opposition party, was still calling for clarification of remarks made in New York by Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi about pumping public funds into the crumbling Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan. Nonetheless it agreed to start discussions out of concern that any further delay might have serious consequences on the economy.
Representatives of the DPJ and the Heiwa-Kaikaku parliamentary group met with the LDP and urged the ruling party to start working on the bills first. The LDP, however, also wanted to talk about other measures for improving the health of banks before they fail, according to the participants.