WORLD
Japan`s incoming PM promises fresh policies
Baku, December 25 (AZERTAC). Japan`s prime-minister-to-be announced his top lieutenants on Tuesday and promised his conservative party will pursue fresh policies to tackle the nation`s chronic economic woes and bolster its sagging influence on the international stage.
Shinzo Abe, who led his conservative Liberal Democratic Party to victory in elections Dec. 16 after three years in opposition, was to be formally installed as prime minister on Wednesday for his second turn at the nation`s helm. He was also prime minister in 2006-2007.
In filling the top party posts, Abe vowed to take bold measures to bring Japan out of its doldrums and win back public trust in the government, which has taken a beating over what many voters see as politicians` failure to shore up the economy, deal with a swelling national debt and come up with a recovery plan following last year`s devastating earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crises.
``The Liberal Democratic Party has changed,`` he told a news conference Tuesday. ``We are not the party we once were.``
The new top party lineup includes two women — more than previous LDP administrations — and is younger than earlier ones, with three of the four in their 50s.
The LDP governed Japan for decades after it was founded in 1955, but has been the top opposition party since 2009 elections won by the left-leaning Democratic Party of Japan. Before it was ousted, the LDP was hobbled by scandals and its own problems getting key legislation through a divided parliament.