Tokyo to sign $2.5b deal with Dhaka

Japan will sign an agreement with Bangladesh on providing $2.5 billion Official Development Assistance (ODA) during a visit of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to Tokyo at the end of this month.

The amount in the 40th ODA agreement will be 35 percent higher than that of last year, said Japanese Ambassador to Bangladesh Hiroyasu Izumi when he met Hasina at the Gono Bhaban yesterday, reports UNB.

Izumi also assured the PM of Japan’s continued support to Bangladesh in its efforts for economic prosperity, said PM’s Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim while briefing reporters after the meeting.

The diplomat told Hasina that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was eagerly waiting to receive her in Japan during the upcoming Japan visit. A foreign ministry official said the PM would leave for Japan on May 28.

Congratulating her on re-election in the last parliamentary elections, Izumi said the next five years would be very important for Bangladesh as the economy of the country would take off for further progress.

The Japanese ambassador was apprised of the progress of the coal-fired 1,200MW Matarbari Power Plant project in Cox’s Bazar’s Maheshkhali.

Mentioning that Japan is a great friend of Bangladesh, Hasina said she was also eagerly waiting to meet her Japanese counterpart.

She also recalled the contributions of Japan to the economic development of the country and to the construction of Rupsha Bridge during Bangabandhu’s regime after Bangladesh’s independence.

PM’s Principal Secretary M Nojibur Rahman, Principal Coordinator on SDG Affairs of Prime Minister’s Office Md Abul Kalam Azad and PMO Secretary Sajjadul Hassan were present during the meeting.

After visiting Japan, the PM will fly to Saudi Arabia to attend the 14th Islamic Summit of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation at the invitation of Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

The summit is scheduled to be held in Makkah on May 31.