Prime Minister Tarique Rahman held a courtesy meeting with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) President Dr Tanaka Akihiko, in Japan on Monday.
The meeting took place at 5:10pm local time in Japan. JICA Senior Vice President Hara Shohei and other senior officials of the organisation were also present on the occasion.
During the meeting, the prime minister recalled his fruitful meeting with the JICA president held in Dhaka during Tanaka’s visit to Bangladesh in July 2026. Tarique expressed deep gratitude for Japan’s long-standing cooperation and JICA’s significant contributions to the socio-economic development of Bangladesh.
He highlighted that Japan’s assistance continues to play a vital role in Bangladesh’s infrastructure development, socio-economic progress, and the realisation of its development aspirations. He underscored the importance of continuing cooperation with Japan to further deepen the long-standing friendly ties between the two nations and elevate the living standards of the people of Bangladesh.
The meeting placed strong emphasis on completing major ongoing Japanese-assisted development projects within their scheduled deadlines. Discussions were also held on accelerating the approval and implementation process for priority projects that are currently awaiting approval.
Considering the current development priorities of Bangladesh, the Bangladesh side stressed the necessity of maintaining concessionary soft loans and expanding technical cooperation from Japan.
Bangladesh put forward several key bilateral proposals during the meeting, including- the establishment of the Bangladesh–Japan Skills Partnership; setting up a Technological Village and Innovation City, and expanding cooperation in agriculture modernisation, agro-processing and the light engineering sector
Furthermore, considering the current global energy situation, Bangladesh requested budget support from Japan to ensure national energy demand and energy security, similar to the assistance extended last year.
In response, Tanaka Akihiko reaffirmed JICA’s commitment to working jointly with Bangladesh to achieve the country’s prosperity.
The prime minister expressed firm optimism that these initiatives would strengthen the strategic partnership between Bangladesh and Japan while contributing significantly to shared prosperity for both nations.
The Bangladesh delegation at the meeting comprised Minister of Finance and Planning Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury, Minister of Civil Aviation and Tourism M Rashiduzzaman Millat, Prime Minister’s Finance and Planning Affairs Adviser Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir, State Minister for Foreign Affairs-1 Humaiun Kobir, State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Aninda Islam Amit, Prime Minister’s Postal, Telecommunications, Information Technology, Science and Technology Affairs Adviser Rehan Asif Asad, Prime Minister’s Special Assistant for Foreign Employment in the Asia-Pacific Region Md Shakirul Islam Khan, Secretary of the Economic Relations Division (ERD) Md Shahriar Kader Siddiky, and Prime Minister’s Additional Press Secretary Atikur Rahman Ruman, alongside other high-ranking government officials.
