Defense Minister Minoru Kihara on Friday called on Japan’s ruling parties to approve “as soon as possible” the export of next-generation fighter jets set to be co-developed with Britain and Italy to third countries after they failed to meet an end-of-February deadline. The ministry requested the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its junior coalition partner, the Komeito party, conclude negotiations by the end of last month, saying that the delay to agree could affect three-way talks that are set to take place from March to hammer out details on the plan to develop the fighter jet by 2035. To…