Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in his annual policy speech will call for training 250,000 workers in nursing care-related fields to reach the government’s goal of reducing to zero the number of people who leave their jobs to provide nursing care for family members, it was learned Tuesday.
The program is intended to be one of the pillars of his idea to create a society with all 100 million-plus people dynamically engaged.
Abe also plans to highlight the importance of relations with South Korea in the speech, in the context of the deal reached late last year over the so-called comfort women issue. Abe will name South Korea as “our most important neighboring country, with which we share strategic interests.”
The policy speech could be delivered before the plenary session of both houses of the Diet as early as Friday.
The government has set a goal of expanding nursing care to serve an additional 500,000 people by the early 2020s, in part by increasing the number of special nursing homes for the elderly.
However, this would lead to an estimated shortfall of 250,000 care workers, which is why the government is so enthusiastic about job training in this area.
Regarding South Korea, in Abe’s 2014 policy speech he called the nation “our most important neighboring country, with which we share fundamental values and interests.”
However, in light of the indictment of a former Sankei Shimbun Seoul bureau chief and other factors, in last year’s speech, he only referred to South Korea as “our most important neighboring country.”
The prime minister is taking it a step further this year as an indication of improved ties.
Abe also plans to denounce North Korea’s nuclear tests, calling them “a major threat to Japan’s security.”
He will also express a desire to take the lead in stabilizing a struggling global economy by chairing the Ise-Shima Summit, a meeting of the leaders of the Group of Seven nations scheduled for May.Speech.(The Yomiuri Shimbun)
Link: http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0002692361
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