Japan has proposed to develop a platform to oversee different projects under the $6bn credit committed by it.
“We had a meeting with a Japanese delegation today (Monday) and it was proposed to form a platform to identify, formulate, manage and monitor the projects,” said an official who attended the meeting yesterday.
The delegation led by Japanese foreign ministry director Hanajiri Takashi arrived in the city prior to the visit of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on September 6 and 7.
“We received the proposal and after consulting about the modalities, we will finalise it,” the official said.
The initiative will boost Bangladesh’s engagement with Japan as Dhaka and Tokyo have decided to lift the relationship to a “comprehensive partnership” level, he said.
At the yesterday’s meeting, the team also discussed about BIG-B initiative that was proposed by Tokyo during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Japan visit in May.
Japan has pledged $6bn to Bangladesh as part of its overseas development assistance.
The credit will be used in next four to five years to implement different projects. Japan wants a joint platform to shepherd the projects.
During her visit, the Bangladeshi premier sought assistance for mega projects like Ganges Barrage, multi-modal tunnel under river Jamuna, dedicated railway bridge over Jamuna, multi-modal Dhaka Eastern Bypass and ecological restoration of four rivers around Dhaka city.
BIG-B Initiative
The Japanese delegation appraised Bangladesh side about its Bay of Bengal Industrial Growth Belt (BIG-B) initiative.
The objective of the initiative is to improve socio-economic condition of Bangladesh investing in infrastructural development, the official said.
“Improvement of investment climate is another objective of the initiative,” he said.
Japanese businessmen want to invest in Bangladesh under the “China plus one” policy and they want to make it as safe as possible, he added.
Bangladesh itself is a big market, and demographic dividend like young population and cheap labour are the major decision-making factors for Japanese investment, the official said.
“We will have another meeting on September 21 when a Japanese vice- minister will arrive in Dhaka.”
The government has formed a committee headed by PMO Secretary Abul Kalam Azad and six other secretaries are its members.
During the visit of Hasina, Bangladesh made commitment to set up a special economic zone of 500 acres of land in Chittagong exclusively for Japanese investors.
In addition to that, Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA) and Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) have signed an agreement under which 40 plots and two buildings in five different EPZs will be reserved for the Japanese investors for next one year.
The official said they would also talk about these issues at the meeting to be held at PMO.
