Tokyo, Mar 15 (EFE).- Japan’s ruling parties agreed on Friday to make defense exports to allied nations more flexible in order to be able to export an advanced fighter jet the country is developing jointly with the United Kingdom and Italy.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s cabinet plans to relax guidelines on the transfer of defense equipment and technology on Mar. 26 to allow the export of the jets, following an agreement reached within the ruling coalition on Friday.

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party, led by Kishida, recently said in a parliamentary session that allowing exports to third countries was necessary to ensure efficient spending on the development of these aircraft and maintain Japan’s credibility as a partner in future defense projects.

However, this week Kishida said that the fighter jets could only be exported to 15 countries that have an agreement with Japan, including Australia, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Sweden, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, the United States and Vietnam, as long as no conflict was taking place there.

Japan has strict regulations that prevent the export of defense equipment and technology and prohibit the transfer of lethal weapons to other countries unless they have been involved in their production or development.

Japanese legislation also expressly prohibits the export of weapons to countries that are at war within the framework of its pacifist Constitution, which has been preventing Japan from providing such assistance to Ukraine in its war with Russia.

In December, the defense ministers of Japan, the United Kingdom and Italy agreed to establish a joint organization to facilitate the development and production of a new advanced fighter jet by 2035. EFE

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