Bangladesh and Japan have outlined a projection of up to one trillion yen in Japanese private investment over five years after their October 27 summit. The leaders also upgraded their industrial partnership and signed five cooperation documents. The published summit accounts do not announce the loan package officials had discussed before the visit, which continues until October 29.
Story in brief
- Prime Minister Tarique Rahman and Japan’s Sanae Takaichi issued a joint statement in Tokyo on Tuesday, October 27, projecting up to one trillion yen, about $6.34 billion, of Japanese private investment in Bangladesh over five years, with 200,000 jobs.
- The two countries upgraded their Bay of Bengal Industrial Growth Belt into “BIG-B for Shared Prosperity”, centred on developing Matarbari-Maheshkhali into a logistics, energy, and industrial hub, and signed five cooperation documents on economic relations, agriculture, fisheries and livestock, and the environment.
- Both leaders committed to bringing the Japan-Bangladesh Economic Partnership Agreement, signed in February, into force at an early date. Bangladesh is scheduled to graduate from least-developed-country status on November 24; an extension request remains part of the UN process.
- Rahman proposed a joint ministerial commission and a Bangladesh-Japan Tech Park, and told the summit Bangladesh could become the world’s ninth-largest consumer economy by 2030, with GDP above one trillion dollars by 2034.
Summit at the Kantei
The summit, on the second day of Rahman’s four-day official visit, was held at the Japanese prime minister’s office in Tokyo. According to the joint statement, Takaichi praised the efforts of Rahman’s administration to promote foreign direct investment and welcomed the projection of upcoming private investment from Japan to Bangladesh of up to one trillion yen, about $6.343 billion, with 200,000 jobs to be created over the next five years. The two prime ministers welcomed major investments to be announced on the occasion and shared the view that the two countries should build complementary and resilient supply chains in manufacturing, food and agriculture, information technology, and pharmaceuticals.
The private-investment projection is not a state loan or a binding commitment by companies. Before the summit, officials had anticipated approximately $2 billion in Japanese loans and financial assistance, including $300 million in budgetary support. The summit accounts do not announce either as a signed commitment. Their absence from those accounts does not establish that Japan rejected them, and private investment cannot be subtracted from or substituted for sovereign lending.
What the day did produce in signed form was five cooperation documents, four memoranda and a letter of intent: a memorandum between Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and Bangladesh’s Economic Relations Division on economic relations and the business environment; two memoranda between Japan’s agriculture ministry and Bangladesh’s ministries of agriculture and of fisheries and livestock; a memorandum on the environment between the two environment ministries; and a letter of intent between Japan’s Global Environment Bureau and Bangladesh’s Department of Environment.
Matarbari at the centre
The framework the documents sit inside is the upgrade of the Bay of Bengal Industrial Growth Belt, the two countries’ flagship initiative, into “BIG-B for Shared Prosperity”. The upgraded initiative integrates power, energy, deep-sea port, industrial, and ICT infrastructure to establish a nexus for industrial value chains and a trade and supply gateway. Its centre of gravity is geographic: the two countries will work to develop the Matarbari-Maheshkhali area into a major logistics, energy, and industrial hub centred on the Matarbari Deep-Sea Port, and they agreed to discuss future cooperation on the port’s operation and management. The leaders also agreed to advance preparatory work for the early operation of the third terminal at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka and to move forward with the construction of Dhaka’s mass rapid transit lines.
The Economic Partnership Agreement was signed in February but has not yet entered into force. Both leaders reaffirmed their commitment to completing that step at an early date to support trade and investment.
Bangladesh is scheduled to graduate from least-developed-country status on November 24, while a request to extend its preparatory period is under consideration in the UN process. Graduation does not end every trade preference on the same day: transition arrangements depend on the market and measure. The WTO’s graduation guidance distinguishes those arrangements from the graduation date itself.
Japan’s share of Bangladesh’s garment exports has been rising. In July to September, it took 3.25 percent, $343.65 million of a $10.58 billion total, compared with 2.93 percent across the whole of the preceding fiscal year, on Export Promotion Bureau data cited in the reporting. Those figures describe different-length periods, not a direct year-on-year growth rate.
Energy and the asks
Energy security ran through Rahman’s own presentation. He thanked Japan for the recent emergency assistance loan of 50 billion yen under the Partnership for Power Asia initiative, and called for greater Japanese investment and participation in Bangladesh’s liquefied natural gas infrastructure, efficient power generation, and renewable energy. On Monday, the visit’s first day, he had inspected JERA’s LNG terminal facilities in Chiba, and he met Marubeni’s chairman to urge investment in modernising Bangladesh’s fertiliser industry and in renewable projects.
His two structural proposals were a joint ministerial commission to accelerate cooperation in priority sectors, and a Bangladesh-Japan Tech Park connecting Japanese companies, universities, and investors with Bangladesh’s young technology talent. Neither appears in the summit reporting as adopted; both were proposals laid on the table. The pitch they served was stated in his own figures: “By 2030, Bangladesh could become the world’s ninth-largest consumer economy, and by 2034, our GDP could exceed US$1 trillion.”
Rahman also raised the Rohingya question during the visit, including with the Japan-Bangladesh Parliamentary Friendship League delegation led by Taro Aso on Monday, pressing the repatriation case that Dhaka raises in every capital. The summit’s published record centres on the economic files.
What happens next
The visit continues until October 29. The next concrete steps are named company investments, completion of the EPA’s entry-into-force procedures and projects under the upgraded BIG-B initiative. Any later loan agreement must be identified separately, with its amount, borrower, terms and signing date.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report