Japan decided to restore South Korea to its list of preferred trading partners, the latest step toward bolstering relations that will help them strengthen cooperation with the U.S.

The restored status will take effect July 21, 2023, Japanese trade minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said June 27. The return to Japan’s so-called white list of trading partners will smooth out export procedures to South Korea and comes about three months after Seoul made a similar move.

“We also agreed upon a follow-up framework to continue dialogue over policy and take appropriate action including reviewing measures and operations as needed,” Nishimura said.

Read more: South Korea Reinstates Japan on List of Countries That Receive Preferential Trade Treatment

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida have taken steps in 2023 to resolve issues tied to Japan’s colonial rule over the Korean Peninsula so that the two nations can collaborate further with the U.S. over North Korea and China.

The announcement comes as the leaders of Japan and South Korea prepare for a trilateral summit with U.S. President Joe Biden. That meeting could be held as soon as late August 2023, the Yomiuri newspaper said earlier in June.

South Korea’s trade ministry said bilateral trust in the field of export control had been fully restored following in-depth policy discussions and vowed to cooperate with Japan on related bilateral and multilateral issues.

In March 2023, Japan decided to roll back export restrictions of key semiconductor materials for South Korea, easing licensing requirements on fluorinated polyimide, hydrogen fluoride and photoresists — all essential materials for the manufacturing of displays and semiconductors.

Both countries are major players in the chip industry, where bolstering supply chains is increasingly seen as a matter of national security. Japan is clamping down on exports of chipmaking gear as the U.S. ratchets up efforts to limit China’s access to advanced know-how.

Read more: Japan Unveils $6bn Deal to Buy Out Chip Linchpin JSR

Yoon has been working to rebuild trust after relations with Japan turned their coldest in decades under his predecessor, hampering U.S. efforts to cooperate with allies. A dispute over whether Japan had sufficiently compensated for its past colonization of the Korean Peninsula threatened cooperation from trade to security.

Progress accelerated after Yoon in March unveiled a plan to have South Korean firms compensate Koreans conscripted to work at Japanese mines and factories, rather than pursue Japan’s companies through the courts.

He was invited to meet Kishida in Tokyo for the first meeting of its type in 12 years and attended the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima, where the two leaders showed unity by paying respects together at a memorial to Koreans killed in the 1945 nuclear attack.