Joint Secretary at the
Ministry of Finance Akhlasur Rahman and Japan Mint President Yoshiake Shinhara
signed the agreement at Bangladesh Bank's (BB) headquarters in
Dhaka.
Japan's Ambassador in Dhaka Shiro Sadoshima and BB Governor Atiur
Rahman were also present there.
The central bank said the coins will
carry an image of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Each of the coins will cost Tk 1.10.
As per the deal, Japan Mint will
deliver the new coins in six shipments staring from April.
The
state-affiliated firm of Japan recently won the contract to mint coins worth $12
million for Bangladesh after participating in an international bid with Germany,
Britain, The Netherlands and Slovakia.
This was the first order Tokyo had
received for coins in circulation in any foreign country since the end of World
War II.
They clinched the contract on November last year with a bid of
$6.5 million, the lowest.
Governor Rahman said,” The process of making
these coins has ended with great transparency. A huge amount of foreign currency
will be saved as this is a government-to-government deal.”
He said
earlier each of such coins would cost Tk 1.22.
