New PM Takaichi to Give Policy Speech Fri. at Earliest

Tokyo, Oct. 21 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s ruling camp led by the Liberal Democratic Party proposed on Tuesday that newly elected Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi deliver her first policy speech in the Diet, the country’s parliament, on Friday. The ruling bloc made the proposal at a meeting of the steering committee of the House of Representatives, the all-important lower chamber of the Diet, which convened for a 58-day extraordinary session on Tuesday. The ruling camp also presented a plan to hold question-and-answer sessions on Takaichi’s policy address on Nov. 4-5. The opposition took the proposal back for consideration. Takaichi will visit Malaysia starting Sunday to attend summit meetings related to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Other upcoming diplomatic events include a visit to Japan by U.S. President Donald Trump. Key issues in the extra Diet session are expected to include a fiscal 2025 supplementary budget bill to finance economic measures and a bill to eliminate the provisional gasoline surcharge by the end of the year, as agreed by the ruling and opposition parties. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]