PM to visit Japan on Nov 29-30

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will visit Japan from November 29-30.

During the visit, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will hold a bilateral meeting, and the two sides are likely to sign a number of memorandums of understanding on cooperation.

Officials are making a detailed plan for the visit, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen told The Daily Star yesterday.

The trip is considered crucial for Japan and Bangladesh because both the countries are important partners in the Indo-Pacific region.

The visit takes place as the two countries are celebrating 50 years of diplomatic relationship.

"Bangladesh and Japan launched a comprehensive partnership in 2014. Since then, Japan has made more investments in Bangladesh. Bilateral trade has also increased. During the PM's visit, there is a likelihood of raising the tie to a strategic partnership," a foreign ministry official said.

In 2020-2021, Japan provided $2.63 billion assistance to Bangladesh, higher than any other country.

Japan is implementing some of the major projects in Bangladesh including the MRT line in Dhaka, deep-sea port at Matarbari, third terminal of Dhaka airport, and special economic zone at Araihazar.

According to the foreign minister, Japan is interested in managing the deep-sea port at Matarbari and the third terminal of Dhaka airport. Besides, Japan wants to sell defence equipment to Bangladesh.

As Bangladesh will be graduating out of the LDC status by 2026, it is working on signing a free trade agreement (FTA) with Japan.

Bangladesh's export to Japan in the last fiscal year was worth $1.35 billion, a 14.40 percent rise compared to the previous year.