Japan-Bangladesh Friendship League Meets Prime Minister Tarique Rahman in Tokyo, Discusses Investment and EPA

A high-level delegation of the Japan-Bangladesh Parliamentary Friendship League has paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, who is visiting Japan, in Tokyo. The meeting took place at about 3pm local time on Monday.

The delegation was led by the league's president and former Japanese prime minister Taro Aso.

During the meeting, Prime Minister Tarique Rahman thanked Taro Aso for his historic role in consolidating mutual cooperation and friendly relations between the two countries. He recalled, in the context of his 2006 visit to Japan, meeting Taro Aso as the BNP's then senior joint secretary general.

Taro Aso, for his part, recalled with respect his past meeting with Bangladesh's former prime minister, the late Khaleda Zia. The Prime Minister noted that, while serving as Japan's prime minister, deputy prime minister and finance minister, Taro Aso had always made constructive contributions to deepening the bilateral partnership with Bangladesh.

At the meeting, policymakers from the two countries emphasised increasing political harmony, commercial partnership and people-to-people contact.

Taro Aso noted that a large part of Bangladesh's population is a promising young generation and that the current political stability there has created a favourable environment for foreign capital. In this context, he said Japanese multinational companies are keenly interested in investing in Bangladesh on a large scale.

Reassuring Japanese investors, the Prime Minister said the government is advancing administrative and legal reforms to create an international-standard, business-friendly environment in Bangladesh.

Presenting the government's steps in education and technical skills development, the Prime Minister sought Taro Aso's personal cooperation for the effective implementation of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) signed between the two countries. He also expressed hope that Japan's cooperation would continue in technology transfer in industry and in building skilled human resources.

From the Bangladesh side, Finance and Planning Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury, Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister M. Rashiduzzaman Millat, the Prime Minister's finance and planning adviser Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir, State Minister for Foreign Affairs-1 Humayun Kabir, and State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Anindya Islam Amit, along with senior officials, took part in the courtesy call.

On the Japanese side, alongside Taro Aso, the delegation included former minister and ruling LDP chairman Yasutoshi Nishimura, Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Tatsunori Ibayashi, and senior lawmakers of the Japanese parliament.