Dipu Moni looks to Japanese, Chinese development fillips

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Sheikh Shahariar Zaman
The government is considering signing economic partnership agreement (EPA) with Japan to strengthen bilateral relations between the two Asian countries.
"The bilateral trade between the two countries has reached $1.3 billion and in the future we want to sign EPA with Tokyo to make exports and imports and investments easier," said an official at the foreign ministry.
The EPA covers the entire range of issues including export and import facilitation, customised tariff rate structure and investment opportunities.
Japan has EPA with a number of countries where it has significant economic interests.
The government is also planning to create an 'exclusive industrial corridor' under the framework of export processing zone for the Japanese investors, the official said.
"Foreign minister Dipu Moni on Sunday held a meeting with a Japanese business delegation on the issue and sought their assistance in this regard," he said.
The minister asked the delegation to fund the Padma bridge, Dhaka-Chittagong four-lane highway and help develop the railway infrastructure, he added.
"The Japanese team also expressed their interest in the issues," he said adding, "Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will visit Japan this month and it is expected she will strike a deal with the Japanese government for funding Padma bridge."
"Japan has helped us in developing the Bangabandhu Bridge and this time we seek their help in building the Padma bridge," he said.
Another foreign ministry official said Dr Dipu Moni sought assistance from a Chinese delegation to materialise the Kunming initiative when they met her at her office Sunday.
The Kunming initiative will physically link Bangladesh and China and it could be done through road and rail networks, he said.
"If the network can be developed through Myanmar, Chinese products can be shipped to Dhaka at lower costs and it is also important for Bangladesh to make the deep-sea port viable," he added.
Bangladesh also sought $1.2 billion in Chinese assistance in developing the deep-sea port in Sonadia to make the country a regional hub of cargo handling taking in the entire region stretching from China to Nepal and Bhutan.
"Dr Dipu Moni sought Chinese support in agriculture, climate change management, renewable energy and infrastructure," the official said.
The foreign minister urged the Chinese delegation to request their business people to invest more in Bangladesh that offers attractive tax and legal regime along with cheap and efficient workforce.