Source: United States Navy
[superslideshow center]
Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro met with leading Japanese shipbuilding industry executives and toured a shipyard undertaking maintenance and repair of a U.S. Navy oiler, Feb. 28-29.
Discussions were productive and centered on attracting Japanese investment in integrated commercial and naval shipbuilding facilities in the United States.
On Feb. 28, Secretary Del Toro met with Kensuke Namura, President of Namura Shipbuilding and Sasebo Heavy Industries, Masayuki Eguchi, Senior Vice President of Integrated Defense and Space Systems at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and Atushi Etoh, Managing Officer of Japan Marine United, at a lunch hosted by Ambassador Rahm Emanuel in Tokyo.
On Feb. 29, Secretary Del Toro and Ambassador Emanuel toured Mitsubishi’s shipyard in Yokohama and spoke with the master of USNS Big Horn (T-AO 198) as it undergoes repairs there.
This is Secretary Del Toro’s third visit to Japan as Secretary of the Navy. In addition to his discussions with industry, Secretary Del Toro met with the Japanese National Security Advisor, Minister of Defense, and Head of Navy.
Secretary Del Toro reiterated, “The U.S.-Japan Alliance is the cornerstone of peace, security, and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond. I am here to reaffirm the Department of the Navy’s long-standing partnership with the defense forces of Japan, and to strengthen that partnership even further.”
As part of his call for a new Maritime Statecraft in his speech to the Harvard Kennedy School on Sept. 26, 2023, Secretary Del Toro observed that the U.S. maritime industry “is ripe with opportunity to partner with a greater number of shipbuilders here in the U.S. and with our closest allies overseas, including Japan and South Korea.” In the same speech, he announced his objective to “attract the most advanced shipbuilders in the world to open U.S.-owned subsidiaries and invest in commercial shipyards here in the U.S., modernizing and expanding our shipbuilding industrial capacity and creating a healthier, more competitive shipbuilding workforce.”
Secretary Del Toro visited Japan, the Republic of Korea, and Palau for engagements in the Indo-Pacific region. The trip was a key step in his Maritime Statecraft efforts to reinvigorate America’s comprehensive maritime power and aligns closely with the Pentagon’s National Defense Industrial Strategy, which calls for venture capital and new ideas to revive the U.S. industrial base.