BartaBangla Report :: Dhaka will emphasise on more investment from Japan during Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit. The Japanese Prime Minister arrives in the capital on Saturday on a brief official visit to Bangladesh.
Accompanied by his wife Akie Abe, the Prime Minister will lead a delegation of over 150 members, including a 50-member high-level business team. The visit, that will have a duration of less than 24 hours, is the first by any Japanese Prime Minister in 14 years since 2000 when Yoshiro Mori paid a visit to Bangladesh.
“What we want this time is investment,” foreign minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali told a press conference organised on the upcoming visit at the ministry. “Japan is one of the largest source of foreign aid and investment. Of late, Japan has been showing keen interest in constructing large infrastructure,” he said.
Ali hoped that through the visit, Japanese investors will be encouraged to invest in the fields of energy, electricity generation, infrastructure development, information technology, textile, readymade garments, pharmaceuticals and automobiles, along with other important areas.
The issue of establishment of a specialised economic zone exclusively for Japanese investors will also be discussed, he said.
Describing the visit as a milestone in the relationship between Dhaka and Tokyo, the foreign minister said one of the main objective of the government is to strengthen economic and technical cooperation with Japan for Vision-2021.
During Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Japan visit in May, Dhaka-Tokyo relations were upgraded to the level of “Comprehensive Partnership”, he said. “I am hopeful that this visit will provide a further boost to the relationship,” he added.
Ali said Bangladesh will seek Japanese assistance to increase its exports to that country.
“While in Tokyo, Sheikh Hasina requested her counterpart to further relax Japan’s rules of origin and ensure duty-free access for Bangladeshi products, including jute, jute products, home and woven textiles and table wares,” he said, adding that there will be further discussions and there is a possibility of development on the issue.
Issues related to Japanese assistance in increasing electricity production, including primary energy security, will also be discussed, said the foreign minister.
He hoped that the visit will contribute to continuation of Japanese assistance in Bangladesh’s socio-economic development and said that Japan’s commitment of assistance in large development projects mentioned in the joint statement signed during Hasina’s visit will be iterated.
When asked if Bangladesh will withdraw its candidature in favour of Japan in the election for non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for 2016-17, the foreign minister just said: “Slowly, my friend,
slowly.”
Bangladesh declared its candidacy to become a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in 2002, while Japan announced its candidature in 2012.
While in Dhaka, Prime Minister Abe will hold official talks with Sheikh Hasina at the Prime Minister’s Office on Saturday, followed by signing of a joint statement, according to the programme schedule.
Abe will visit the National Mausoleum in Savar to pay tribute to martyrs in the War of Independence in 1971 and later the Bangabandhu Memorial Museum at Dhanmondi.
He will call on President Abdul Hamid and meet BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia and Opposition leader Rowshan Ershad.
The Japanese Prime Minister will address the Bangladesh-Japan Economic Forum, jointly organised by the Bangladesh Board of Investment (BOI), Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) and the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel.
In the evening, he will attend a banquet hosted by Prime Minister Hasina in his honour at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel.
On Sunday morning, Abe will visit the faculty of fine arts at Dhaka University before leaving for the Sri Lankan capital Colombo. The Japanese Prime Minister’s wife will visit a missionary school in the capital and the nursing institute at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital.