WASHINGTON: US Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment William LaPlante will visit Japan this week to attend the first meeting of the Japan-US Defense Industrial Cooperation Acquisition and Sustainment Forum, or DICAS, a spokesperson for the Defense Department said Wednesday.

The DICAS framework “will promote greater US-Japan defense industrial cooperation and accelerate opportunities for co-development, co-production, and co-sustainment,” Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said in a press briefing.

The two countries agreed at a summit in April to launch the framework to strengthen interoperability of defense equipment. Their defense ministers had talks last Sunday to make final preparations for the first DICAS meeting.

US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink will also visit Japan, for two days from next Sunday, the State Department announced on Wednesday.

Kritenbrink is expected to meet with senior Japanese officials to reaffirm the strengthening of the Japan-US alliance and discuss the situation around Taiwan and North Korea’s nuclear and missile development.

Prior to his visit to Japan, Kritenbrink will travel to Laos to take part in meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the ASEAN Regional Forum.

JIJI Press