Japanese investment mission due this month
The government has undertaken steps to facilitate Japanese investment in the potential sectors and deepen the bilateral trade relations while a high-powered Japanese investment mission is due to visit the country later this month, sources said.
The two countries took initiatives to boost bilateral trade and economic ties after Prime Ministers of Bangladesh and Japan signed a joint statement in Tokyo at the end of May.
The two sides have vowed to enhance Japanese assistance to build and improve the much needed infrastructures in Bangladesh and accelerate Japanese investment here, a top finance ministry official said.
As a follow-up action, Prime Minister’s Office last week formed a nine-member secretary-level committee headed by the senior secretary of PMO to implement the vision, sources said.
The committee, as per a notification issued from the PMO, will work to improve the investment environment to lure Japanese investors, identify business areas for large investment proposals from the Asian economic giant and initiate process to develop local infrastructure.
Around 25 to 30 large corporate Japanese investors are to visit Dhaka at the end of this month to have first hand information about the business opportunities in Bangladesh, a senior official at the economic relations division of the finance ministry said.
‘The forthcoming Japanese investment mission will explore the investment opportunities in different potential sectors of the country,’ the ERD official told New Age on Monday.
The Japanese are keen to invest in the special economic zones and in the areas like shipbuilding, pharmaceuticals and electronic products, he said.
Meanwhile, the PMO has asked Bangladesh economic zones authority to identify at least two sites to be developed as Japanese special economic zones, sources said.
‘Japan is eager to develop the required infrastructure to be used as economic zones exclusively for Japanese investors,’ a senior official at the BEZA said.
Meanwhile, officials at the foreign ministry said Joint Bangladesh-Japan public–private economic dialogue will be launched at the end of this year after Prime Ministers of Bangladesh and Japan had agreed during the visit of Sheikh Hasina to Japan in May.
During Hasina’s visit, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe promised to provide economic assistance worth US$ 5.9 billion to Bangladesh over the next four to five years.
Of the promised aid, Tokyo signed five loan agreements for around US$ 1.20 billion last month with Dhaka to finance the country’s five large projects with Japanese low-cost fund.
-With New Age input
