Bangladesh-Japan expects to elevate bilateral relations to ‘Strategic Partnership’ level
Bangladesh and Japan have hoped to elevate bilateral relations to “Strategic Partnership” level during the upcoming visit of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to Japan between 29 November and 1 December at the invitation of Prime Minister of Japan Fumio Kishida.
This was discussed when the assistant minister and director general of Southeast and Southwest Asian Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, Arima Yutaka, called on foreign secretary Masud Bin Momen on Thursday, a foreign ministry press release said.
At the meeting, both sides expressed satisfaction at the ever-growing bilateral relations between the two friendly countries, and particularly highlighted the visit of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to Japan in May 2014, when Bangladesh prime minister and her the then Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe elevated the bilateral relations between the two countries to “Comprehensive Partnership” level.
Besides, during the then Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit to Bangladesh in September 2014, the two countries forged deeper economic partnership under BIG-B.
The visiting Japanese assistant minister expected that the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s upcoming visit to Japan in the year of the 50th anniversary of Bangladesh-Japan friendship would be a milestone in the history of Bangladesh-Japan bilateral relations.
Both sides expected that during the upcoming visit, Bangladesh and Japan would foster deeper economic partnership in terms of development cooperation, trade and investment, human resources development, agriculture, ICT, education, defence dialogue and exchanges, people-to-people connectivity and repatriation of Rohingyas.
The two sides also expressed the desire to enhance cooperation in international fora, including on climate change, UN reforms, disarmament and non-proliferation, etc.
Japanese Ambassador to Bangladesh Ito Naoki was present during the meeting.
The Japanese assistant minister is on a two-day visit to Dhaka to discuss the preparations for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s upcoming visit to Japan.