The Cabinet of Prime Minister Naoto Kan soon will announce a growth strategy to develop a new market in the environment and energy sector worth about 50 trillion yen through 2020, it has been learned.
The New Growth Strategy, which is to be compiled within the month, also envisions creating a 19.7 trillion yen infrastructure improvement market, including exports of manufacturing facilities for railways and nuclear power plants, government sources said.
The growth strategy is divided into seven sectors and aims to help the nation become a major power in each. All the sectors have their own road map with a development strategy outline and approximate target years by which goals must be achieved.
In the environment and energy sector, it aims to develop new markets worth more than 50 trillion yen and create 1.4 million new jobs, the sources said.
For that purpose, the government will establish a law by the end of fiscal 2013 to promote the development of environmentally friendly cities.
The law is designed to extend government assistance, by such means as deregulation, to cities selected as model areas to promote green investment in programs including solar power generation and expanded eco-car use.
Additionally, the policy and social infrastructural know-how utilized in such cities will be commercialized into package deals to be exported to emerging economies such as China and India, the sources said.
In the health sector, namely medical and nursing care businesses among others, the new strategy envisions creating 2.81 million jobs by the end of fiscal 2020.
Toward that end, the government will create a “medical treatment stay visa” for foreign nationals to receive advanced medical care in Japan. The government expects to accept about 500,000 foreign patients annually, with an economic impact of about 1 trillion yen a year.
The government will review state regulations as necessary to enable these patients to receive unauthorized advanced medical treatments if they desire, according to the strategy’s draft.
In the tourism development and regional revitalization sector, the draft stipulates the government will designate special comprehensive international strategy districts within fiscal 2011.
With measures such as preferential corporate tax treatment, the government expects the special districts to lure private investment worth 600 billion yen to 700 billion yen per district.
