PM starts Japan tour tonight

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina leaves the city for Japan midnight today (Saturday) on a four-day official tour, which is expected to usher in a new horizon in the Bangladesh-Japan relationship, reports UNB.
This will be also Hasina's first bilateral visit to the country after assuming office for the second successive term through the January 5 election. This is, however, Hasina's third visit to Japan as Prime Minister, as she visited the East Asian island nation in 1997 and 2010.
Japan, the largest bilateral development partner of Bangladesh, has been significantly contributing to the socioeconomic development of the country through financial assistance in sectors like poverty alleviation, physical infrastructure, power generation, human resources development.Sources at the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said the Prime Minister will visit Japan at the invitation of her Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe.

During the visit, the Prime Minister would hold summit-level talks with her counterpart at the Prime Minister's Office on May 26. The two prime ministers would later sign a joint statement which would be followed by a joint press announcement.
Another report adds, an Exchange of Note (EoN) is likely to be signed between Dhaka and Tokyo during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's four-day visit to Japan beginning Saturday night.
According to official sources, the EoN will contain an assurance for US$ 3.8 billion equivalent Japanese loan for implementing a 1200 MW coal-fired power plant and a dedicated deep sea port at Matarbari in Cox's Bazar.
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will provide the highest ever single loan for the two infrastructure projects.
A top official at JICA's Dhaka office confirmed the matter of signing of the EoN between the two Prime Ministers of Japan and Bangladesh.
"JICA will later sign a loan agreement with Bangladesh on June 16 in
Dhaka as follow-up of the EoN," said the Japanese donor agency official, preferring anonymity.
He, however, said that during the loan signing, JICA president plans to be present in Dhaka.
The JICA official further said that the entire loan will be provided to Bangladesh in two or three tranches of which $ 400 million will be given in the first tranche.
JICA has long been working in Bangladesh to support infrastructure development, particularly in energy and communications sectors.