Tokyo, Oct. 2 (Jiji Press)–The Japan-Philippines acquisition and cross-servicing agreement, or ACSA, signed this year will be applied for the first time at an upcoming bilateral drill, Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said Friday. At the six-day Doshin-Bayanihan 6-26 exercise set to kick off Sunday in the Philippines, the country’s Air Force will provide Japan’s Air Self-Defense Force with aircraft fuel under the pact, designed to allow the SDF and the Philippine military to exchange supplies smoothly. In a press conference, Koizumi said that the humanitarian assistance and disaster relief exercise is an “important step that signifies our defense cooperation has entered a new phase.” “We’ll continue to build up practical cooperation to further deepen the Japan-Philippine defense cooperation,” he added. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
