US Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns will discuss efforts to expand US beef exports to Japan this week during a visit by the Asian nation's agriculture minister, the Agriculture Department said on Monday.
A department spokeswoman said the agenda for the meeting on Thursday with Agriculture Minister Norihiko Akagi would include beef trade, but it was also designed to help the two officials become acquainted.
In June, Akagi replaced former minister Toshikatsu Matsuoka, who committed suicide in May amid a political fund-raising scandal. One priority for Bush administration agriculture officials has been convincing Japan to accept a broader range of US beef exports. Last year, Japan partially lifted a ban on US beef put in place in 2003 when mad cow disease surfaced in the United States.
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