Muhith sits with ministries today to review Japanese projects

Munima Sultana | Published: September 05, 2016 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

Finance Minister A M A Muhith is going to sit with the ministries concerned today (Monday) to assess condition of the Japan-funded projects prior to his visit to Japan at the invitation of its government.
The Japanese government has recently invited him to visit Japan through Economic Relations Division (ERD).
Sources said the finance minister's visit schedule is yet to be fixed. But he is likely to discuss various issues, including ensuring security of Japanese consultants and experts working in the Japan-funded projects during today's meeting.
Mr Muhith will preside over the meeting, which is likely to be attended by the ministers concerned.
Japan, like many other nations, has been pressing for strengthening security of its nationals in Bangladesh after seven Japanese consultants were murdered in the Gulshan cafÃ© attack on July 1.
High officials of many Japanese firms working in the projects also visited the country after the incident to reiterate their demand of ensuring security in their respective working areas.
The government also strengthened security of the capital's diplomatic zones, but rejected demands of some countries to secure their embassies on their own.
Officials said the number of Japanese consultants and experts are likely to increase in the country, as several mega projects are now in implementation stage with the financial support of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
"It is necessary to review the status of the projects, as the Japanese investment is also likely to increase in the country manifold in line with the joint declaration of the two prime ministers last year," said an official, scheduled to attend the meeting.
Meanwhile, the Japanese ambassador called on the finance minister recently and assured of his country's continued cooperation for the development of Bangladesh.
The Japanese government has been providing its support in a number of mega projects under the ministries of road transport and bridges, power, energy and mineral resources, and disaster management.
According to JICA website, Japan has so far provided Bangladesh about 1.0 trillion Yen in ODA loans, 500 billion Yen in grants, and 65 billion Yen in technical cooperation.
smunima@yahoo.com