Govt to gear up China, Japan business deals

Slow execution performance on a raft of agreements signed with China and Japan has prompted the government to reappraise the progress for a faster move, officials said.
Under the initiative, commerce ministry will sit with all the government agencies concerned next week to give a nudge to execution of agreements and memoranda of understanding (MoUs) signed with the two world economic powerhouses in Asia.   
"We've convened a meeting for July 11 with the officials of different government departments and Chinese and Japanese embassies following little progress on the implementation of agreements and MoUs," acting secretary of the ministry of commerce (MoC) Subhashish Bose told the FE.  
He said the government will take some decisions at the forthcoming meeting and send those to China and Japan for fast implementation of agreements and MoUs with those countries.  
"We will take some decisions and will send those to China and Japan through our foreign ministry," he said.
The official noted that a significant progress has been made on the bilateral relations between China and Japan.
Bangladesh will soon open a display centre of its products in Kunming of China and seek duty-free market access of leather hand-gloves to Japan.
Mr Bose said progress on pledged investments from Japanese entrepreneurs and their investment in special economic zones will come up prominently in the upcoming meeting.   
At present, Bangladesh enjoys duty-free market access of some products to both the major economies--China and Japan.   
Chinese president Xi Jinping visited Bangladesh last October. During his visit, the two countries signed 15 agreements and MoUs and 12 loan and mutual agreements.  
Among these is a cooperation agreement on increasing investment and production-capacity building, under which 28 development projects will be infused with $ 21.5 billion in foreign aid.
The MoUs have been signed under China's 'One Belt, One Road' flagship, for cooperation, maritime cooperation, joint feasibility study on a free-trade area, new ICT framework, counterterrorism collaboration, capacity building and the sharing of information, tackling climate-change risks, regional and international cooperation, and cooperation in power and energy sectors.
Japanese Prime Minister Sinzo Abe paid a visit to Bangladesh in September last year. Bangladesh premier Sheikh Hasina visited Japan in 2016 and 2010  
Japan, the largest bilateral development partner of Bangladesh, has significantly contributed to the socioeconomic development of the country.
The two countries have signed 21 agreements.
Japan and Bangladesh jointly launched the 'Japan-Bangladesh Comprehensive Partnership'.
The former pledged the latter $6 billion in assistance over the next five years by way of implementing the Bay of Bengal Industrial Growth Belt (Big-B) plan.
Exchanges of notes between the two countries were signed regarding the 35th package of the Official Development Assistance (ODA), under which Bangladesh is receiving $1.18 from Japan for a number of major projects.
Various incentives were offered to Japanese businessmen for investing in Bangladesh including the promise of an exclusive industrial park and special allocations in existing export- processing zones (EPZs).
On 26 May 2014, the prime ministers of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, and Japan's Abe launched the 'Japan-Bangladesh Comprehensive Partnership' agreement.
Under the agreement, the two premiers reaffirmed their commitment to further strengthen the already-existing warm bilateral relations 'by elevating the friendly relationship to a new partnership'.
The prime minister of Japan also pledged to provide nearly $6 billion in additional assistance for Bangladesh in the next four to five years, starting this year.
The promised funds will come by way of implementing the concept of the Bay of Bengal Industrial Growth Belt (BIG-B) and will be used for the multipurpose tunnel under river Jamuna, the cleaning of four rivers and other projects.
Bangladesh offered 40 industrial plots in export-processing zones (EPZs) exclusively to Japanese entrepreneurs. Japan proposed around $1.2 billion worth of investment in Bangladesh.
    talhabinhabib@yahoo.com