BANGLADESH INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AND STRATEGIC STUDIES

Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS) organised its Country Lecture on Japan-Bangladesh Relations: Comprehensive Partnership on 21 October 2014 at BIISS auditorium, Dhaka. The Country Lecture was delivered by H. E. Mr. Shiro Sadoshima, Ambassador, Embassy of Japan in Bangladesh. He spoke about comprehensive partnership of Japan-Bangladesh relations. Major General A K M Abdur Rahman, ndc, psc, Director General of BIISS, delivered the Welcome Address. Ambassador Munshi Faiz Ahmad, Chairman, Board of Governors, BIISS chaired the session and summed up with the concluding speech.

In his Welcome Address, Major General A K M Abdur Rahman, ndc, psc, Director General of BIISS, said that Bangladesh and Japan have a long history of friendship and deep understanding of each others culture. The people of Bangladesh recall with deep gratitude the support and sympathy of Japan during our War of Liberation in 1971. He said that Japan is the only non-Western industrial democracy which has become a role model for socio-economic development globally. As a credible friend and development partner, Japan has always been generous in providing assistance to Bangladesh. The recent visits of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to Japan and her counterpart the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to Bangladesh have brought mutual benefits for the people of the countries. Regarding trade relations, he added that the trade relations between Bangladesh and Japan have been flourishing. They have a great potential. Bangladesh's export to Japan has increased 2.5 times in the last five years. General Rahman said that as a littoral of Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh is now more significant both economically and strategically. He mentioned the significance of the Bay of Bengal Industrial Growth Belt initiative which is known as BIG-B proposed by Japan. He stressed on more people-to-people contact, exchange and joint collaboration among the academic institutions of the two countries. Similarly, he further added that exchange of music, drama, art should be helpful to know each other more and can make the ties stronger. He said that he still have a great liking for the Japanese TV serial Oshin where he found the rural cultures of Japan and Bangladesh are rooted quite in a similar way.

H. E. Mr. Shiro Sadoshima, Ambassador, Embassy of Japan in Bangladesh, in his lecture on Japan-Bangladesh Relations: Comprehensive Partnership, noted that Bangladesh is turning into a very important strategic corner. While talking about the significant geographic location of Bangladesh, he highlighted the confluence of two oceans Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean. He said that Japan is expanding its economic activity and industrial bases from Asia-Pacific region to this part of the world. From this strategic perspective, Bangladesh occupies a very important position and he termed the country as lynchpin. He mentioned that although the country does not have much mineral resources but it has natural gas. Nevertheless, he predicted in the next 15-20 years time, natural gas will be difficult to be commercially tapped. As Bangladesh aspires to become a middle income country, that also means Bangladesh has to compete in a level playing field. He opined that current major export items of Bangladesh would not be able to sustain the import of energy. Bangladesh would inevitably need to have a segment of value-added items in its list of exported goods. He stressed on the need to reorient industrial base of the country. And to do so, Bangladesh will have to start to move now. He added that Japan is ready to help out to achieve these goals. This diversification of industrial base is the key to industrial development, he added.

He suggested that Bangladesh can reorient its industrial products to quality parts and unfinished products and provide to Japan's productions line in Southeast Asia and India. Bangladesh has great potential in this regard, he added. He gave example of one company in Chittagong that manufactures parts of vending machines and that industry is booming. He further added that major exporting goods of Bangladesh like RMG and textiles are going to North America and EU. Very little of these exported goods goes to East Asian market. There are other countries that can be destinations of Bangladeshi products like China, South Korea and Japan. He said that Bangladesh should further explore the market. To invite potential Japanese investors, Japan has started discussing with the Bangladesh government to start an industrial park for itself. He informed that BEPZA agreed to provide two buildings for this purpose. He also stressed on importance of pharmaceutical industries of Bangladesh and suggested Bangladesh to seriously look at the industry and export.

Ambassador Munshi Faiz Ahmad, Chairman, Board of Governors, BIISS, noted that Japan and Bangladesh have maintained friendly relations since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries through economic and technical cooperation, cultural exchange and mutual visits. A bond of mutual goodwill and respect has since developed between the two peoples. Mutual Support and cooperation in international arena have also produced excellent results and deepened the trust between the two countries. Japan is one of the most important development partners of Bangladesh. Japanese development assistance has deliberately been directed to sectors that are crucial for Bangladesh's economic development. These includeinfrastructure building and human resources development, poverty alleviation programmes, good governance, etc. Japan is also a major trading partner and source of foreign direct investment. Although the volume of bilateral trade and investment is yet to reach the full potentials, joint and new efforts may substantially raise the level for mutual gains. To conclude the session, he thanked everyone, particularly Ambassador Shiro Sadoshima and his colleagues from the Embassy of Japan, for contributing to the success of today's Country Lecture Session. He also thanked other ambassadors and members of the diplomatic corps, senior civil-military officials including former officials, members of the academia, businessmen, representatives of think-tanks and the media, for taking time out to attend the lecture.

Senior civil and military officials including former ambassadors, members of the academia, businessmen, representatives of think-tanks, scholars, and policy makers participated in the open discussion session and raised their valuable opinions, suggestions and questions on Japan-Bangladesh relations. Participants of the open discussion session thanked H. E. Mr. Shiro Sadoshima, Ambassador, Embassy of Japan in Bangladesh, for his valuable speech, and raised their opinions on how to increase Japan-Bangladesh relations in case of BIG-B plan, academic and cultural exchange, renewable and non-renewable energy, human resource development, environment, technology, maritime science, disaster management, etc. While responding to the opinions, H. E. Mr. Shiro Sadoshima, noted that development of power sector, transportation and infrastructure is very important for implementing BIG-B plan in Bangladesh. He informed that Japan is eager to provide assistance in the cases of energy efficiency, vocational training, maritime science, environmental aspects of Bangladesh. He also focused on increasing cultural exchange and people-to-people contact between Japan and Bangladesh.