The World - News from Oct. 8, 1987

The United States and Japan pledged to revitalize the international organization that monitors strategic exports to Communist countries in an effort to maintain a Western edge in advanced technology. A joint statement released after a two-day meeting in Tokyo said the two countries “agreed to work toward a major revitalization of COCOM.” The Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls is a Paris-based group composed of Japan and Atlantic Alliance nations that monitors exports of high-technology and strategic material to Communist nations. The meeting followed disclosures that a Japanese firm sold equipment to the Soviet Union that enabled it to build submarine propellers that are quieter and thus harder to detect.