Koichi Mizushima, a Japan Foreign Ministry spokesman while briefing journalists on Saturday, said the minister’s visit was aimed at ‘renewing cooperation’ with Bangladesh, a country which has been ‘traditionally very friendly towards Japan’.
Kishida is the first foreign minister to visit Dhaka after the controversial Jan 5 parliamentary election, which the opposition BNP and its allies boycotted.
The spokesman said they found this visit ‘a suitable timing for strengthening bilateral relationship’ as a new government was formed.
“It (relationship) should be comprehensive partnership,” he said, quoting his minister who spoke for such cooperation during the bilateral talks he held with AH Mahmood Ali, his Bangladeshi counterpart, in the morning.
The minister, who arrived here last night, would also meet Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina before leaving Dhaka for Myanmar around 9pm Saturday.
Japan had issued several statements in the run-up to the Jan 5 elections when Bangladesh witnessed widespread violence. Its envoy in Dhaka Shiro Shadoshima was worried as the unrest was causing panic among its investors.
But in the press briefing, the spokesperson evaded a direct answer to the question on whether the current political standoff between the two major parties over polls-time administration would stand in the way of strengthening the two countries’ partnership.
He said the visiting foreign minister appreciated that BNP was participating in the ongoing local government elections and that he expected ‘democracy will be further promoted in the country’.
The spokesperson said the relationship between the two countries would be on all fronts, “not only at the political level”.
He mostly stressed on economic relations and people-to-people contact, saying Japanese investment is growing fast in Bangladesh.
In the last seven years the number of Japanese companies operating in Bangladesh has nearly tripled --from 61 in 2007 to 176 in 2013.
Japan, which established diplomatic ties with Bangladesh in February 1972, is the largest bilateral development partner of the country.
Its assistance comes regularly as grant, aid, technical assistance and soft loan. The total grants and aid reached $11 billion last year.
Aid package
Currently the two countries are negotiating on the 35th package of its ‘soft loan’.
The spokesperson said Japan had already promised a loan of 120 billion Yen ($1.18 billion) for five projects, mostly in the energy and city development sectors.
“But we did not specify the projects yet,” he said.
Japan considers Bangladesh ‘a moderate Islamic country that has huge economic potential and is located at a point of strategic importance connecting Southeast Asia, India and the Middle East’, he said.
He spoke about maintaining ‘investment friendly’ environment, which he said was improving ‘to some extent’.
Replying to a question, the spokesperson said the issue of holding fresh elections that Japan’s ally, the US was calling for, ‘has not come up’ during the bilateral talks.
He said his minister also conveyed Prime Minister Sinzo Abe’s invitation to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to visit Japan ‘at a mutually convenient time’.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh’s foreign ministry in a media release said Minister Mahmood Ali also invited Japanese Premier to Dhaka which his counterpart ‘agreed to convey and facilitate’.
Ali said, “The people of Bangladesh eagerly looking forward to Prime Minister Abe’s visit to Bangladesh.”
Bangladesh’s Premier visited Japan in 2010 while the last visit of any Japanese Premier was in 2000.
The two foreign ministers exchanged views on a whole range of issues of bilateral, regional and international interest.
Bangladesh expressed its interest in concluding an ‘Economic Partnership Agreement’ considering the ‘growing synergies’ between the economies of the two countries.
Visa exemptions
The two ministers agreed to initiate ‘working level consultations’ to reach an understanding on regular Foreign Office Consultations, visa exemption for diplomatic and official passport holders as well as Economic Partnership Agreement.
The two sides also exchanged views on possibilities of Japan financing some key mega-infrastructure projects in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh side stressed that Japan could ‘effectively contribute in promoting regional connectivity and integration, including BCIM Economic Corridor’.
The two Foreign Ministers agreed that both Bangladesh and Japan could work together for mutual benefit under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
The Japanese Foreign Minister commended Bangladesh’s achievements in disaster management, and said that Japan had much to learn from Bangladesh’s experience.
He invited Bangladesh to participate at the Third World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction to be held in Sendai in March next year.
Japan also ‘positively responded’ to the idea of setting up a ‘Peace-building Centre’ in Bangladesh and offered to initiate bilateral consultations at the working level in this regard, Bangladesh foreign ministry also said.