The government's planned digital agency, aimed at centralizing the digitization of administrative services, will not be a permanent organization, according to a high-ranking government official.
By limiting the timeframe of the agency, which will be launched next year, the government aims to concentrate on promoting digitization measures in a short time period.
The Reconstruction Agency, which was established in February 2012 for the purpose of reconstructing areas affected by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, is an example of such a nonpermanent organization.
The agency was to be dissolved by the end of fiscal 2020, but in June the timeframe was extended 10 years.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga met Keio University Prof. Jun Murai, an expert on digital policy, to discuss issues related to the creation of the agency.
The Cabinet will hold a meeting on digital reform on Wednesday.
"Amid claims of 'digital defeat' and 'digital deficiencies' in Japan, people lack the conveniences that should be available to them, compared to the situation in other countries," Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said in an NHK program that aired Sunday. "We're going to proceed [with digitization] unflinchingly."
Speaking in the same program, Digital Transformation Minister Takuya Hirai said, "We will create the best system for the people by collecting budgets across ministries and agencies."
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