\\\'New era in Dhaka-Tokyo ties\\\'

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit in Japan would open ‘a new era’ of Dhaka-Tokyo relationships, foreign minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali said on Saturday. Hasina will leave Dhaka tonight (Saturday) in her first foreign visit since she returned to power for the second successive term by January 5 elections. The foreign minister briefing journalists ahead of the visit said the Prime Minister take a 109-member delegation including 45 businesspersons in the ‘crucial’ visit. He said the visit would be ‘an important step’ to establish ‘a new comprehensive partnership’ with Tokyo that Japan sought during its foreign minister’s recent Dhaka visit. Japan is the largest bilateral development partner of Bangladesh. Its assistance comes regularly as grant, aid, technical assistance and soft loan. The total grants and aid reached $ 11 billion last year. The foreign minister said increasing Japanese economic and technical cooperation would be imperative in light of the Bangladesh government’s foreign policy based on ‘ground realities’ and its aim to be a middle-income country by 2021. Against this background, he said, the Prime Minister’s visit was a timely step. ‘Japan government was also taking this visit very seriously,’ he said, according to bdnews24.com.