Bangladesh, Japan to enhance cooperation on safe nuclear energy uses

The prime ministers of Japan and Bangladesh have showed their interest to hold the first expert level meeting on peaceful and safe use of nuclear energy by this year.

Shinzo Abe and Sheikh Hasina shared their intention in the bilateral meeting on Saturday at the latter’s office in Dhaka.

Abe arrived in Dhaka earlier in the day in a first visit to Bangladesh by a Japanese prime minister in 14 years.

In a joint statement after the meeting, they also shared their intention to hold ‘Japan-Bangladesh Expert Dialogue on Peaceful and Safe Uses of Nuclear Energy’ on regular basis.

The aim of such dialogues was to strengthen the bilateral cooperation in the area of peaceful and safe uses of nuclear energy and human resources capacity building.

It was also aimed at sharing the experience and lessons learned from the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station of Tokyo Electric Power Company.

The two leaders reaffirmed the importance of strengthening energy cooperation between the two countries including in the area of peaceful uses of nuclear energy keeping in mind that stable energy supply is the key to economic development in Bangladesh.

Stable energy supply is one the areas of the Japan’s Bay of Bengal Industrial Growth Belt (BIG-B) initiative, which is the “centrepiece” of Japanese cooperation.

The two prime ministers welcomed the initiative and stressed the need for strengthening collaboration and cooperation in project formulation and implementation through policy dialogue.

Transport network improvement, stable power supply, urban development such as economic zone development, and private sector development such as financial accessibility promotion are the areas where Japan wishes to cooperate under its BIG-B initiative.

The joint statement also noted three pillars of the initiative are developing economic infrastructure, improving investment environment, and fostering connectivity.

Both leaders shared their expectation that BIG-B initiative, with maximum use of Japan's advanced technologies, such as high efficient coal-fired power generation, would contribute to mutual benefits and prosperity of both countries.

Both leaders signed the Saturday joint statement where they reiterated their resolve to widen bilateral relationship under comprehensive partnership framework.

According to the statement, they had in-depth discussions on wide-ranging bilateral, regional, international and multilateral issues of mutual interest.

The 10-page joint statement outlined the modalities of future engagement under five categories.

These are: deepening bilateral political relations, deepening economic cooperation, cooperation on peace and security issues, cooperation on cultural issues and enhanced people-to-people contact, and cooperation on the issues of mutual interests at regional and international forums.

They expressed their satisfaction at the launching of the Foreign Secretary level dialogue between the two countries and hoped that the first meet would be held early next year in Dhaka.

They stressed on deepening relations in all spheres under the comprehensive partnership framework both leaders launched in May during Hasina’s Tokyo visit.

As Bangladesh seeks investments from Japan, Abe identified location, competitive incentives, improvement of infrastructure and labour supply as “critical factors” for the Special Economic Zones for their companies.

He stressed the need for improving services rendered by Bangladesh's foreign investment regulatory authorities and “making serious effort to ensure stable supply of primary energy and power to the industries”.

In this context, Sheikh Hasina directed relevant authorities to address these issues as soon as possible, according to the statement.

The two prime ministers also appreciated that Japan Mint had produced and delivered 500 million pieces of Tk 2 Bangladesh coin by April, which was the first occasion for Japan Mint to produce circulating coin for any foreign government since the Second World War.

They also agreed to cooperate in the disaster risk reduction (DRR) sector, particularly mitigating earthquake disaster, through technology transfer and to work out a framework of cooperation in this regard soon.

The two prime ministers also reaffirmed the importance of maintaining close cooperation to implement Bilateral Offset Credit Mechanism (BOCM) in order to promote investment in low carbon technologies, particularly adaptive to the changing needs and challenges in Bangladesh.

They also recognised the importance of establishing food value chain from farmers to consumers by making beneficial investments in Bangladesh, including through Public-Private Partnership.