Japan's defense minister says the government will ease a ban on arms exports so Japan can jointly develop and produce defense equipment with other countries.

Yasuo Ichikawa told reporters on Saturday that capabilities of defense equipment have improved and developing it has become more costly, stressing the need for multi-national development.

Ichikawa said previous governments made exceptions for individual cases that could violate the ban, but the government will set a new standard for joint projects while upholding the principles of the ban.

He added that final arrangements are underway and the government plans to announce the decision to relax the ban by Tuesday at the earliest.

The government confirmed earlier this month that it will stick to the 1967 arms exports ban but allow joint defense projects as long as they will not fuel armed conflicts.

Source: http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/20111224_14.html

Image credit: http://www.seattlepi.com/mediaManager/?controllerName=image&action=get&id=1952940&width=628&height=471