From June 5 to 6, more than five months after launching his Cabinet, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe convened the government's three councils on economic and fiscal policy, industrial competitiveness and science and technology.

The outcomes of the discussions can be summarized as follows:

1) Japan will pursue economic revitalization and fiscal reconstruction simultaneously by achieving an economic recovery via increased productivity while reducing public debt. The government will halve the fiscal deficit compared with fiscal 2012 levels by 2015, and attain a budget surplus by fiscal 2020.