PM flies to Japan today

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina leaves Dhaka today for a 12-day visit to Japan, Saudi Arabia and Finland, amid high hopes of boosting trade and investment as well as mobilising support in addressing the Rohingya crisis.

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal, PM’s Private Industry and Investment Adviser Salman F Rahman, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam, State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid, State Minister for Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Imran Ahmad, and other officials will accompany the PM to Japan.

A 53-member delegation of top business leaders will also be part of the PM’s entourage to Japan, the single biggest bilateral development partner of Bangladesh.

Hasina will hold a meeting with her Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe tomorrow.

Dhaka and Tokyo will sign the 40th Official Development Assistance agreement to facilitate a $2.5 billion loan to Bangladesh for five projects involving power, investment, metro rail, port development and energy efficiency promotion. The loan is 35 percent higher than that of the previous year.

Dhaka would also seek technical and financial assistance of nearly $10 billion for 10 future projects on water, land, irrigation, and char development, finance ministry officials said.

Besides, Japanese companies may also ink agreements on investing in Bangladeshi projects, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen said at a press conference on Sunday.

In Tokyo, Hasina will hold a meeting with Japan’s top business leaders to discuss trade and investment between the two countries tomorrow.

Japan International Cooperation Agency President Shinichi Kitaoka will meet Hasina on Thursday.

She will attend a meeting with expatriate Bangladeshis as well. She will also meet the relatives of the Japanese citizens who lost their lives in the terrorist attack on Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka in July 2016.

The PM will speak as the keynote speaker at an international conference on “The Future of Asia”, organised by Nikkei Inc, on Thursday. Some 500 delegations from Asian countries, including heads of state, entrepreneurs and business leaders, will be present at the conference.

Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamad and Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte, among others, will also address the event.

On May 31, Hasina will leave Japan for Saudi Arabia to attend the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s conference. There, Gambia’s proposal for taking Myanmar’s atrocities against Rohingyas to the International Court of Justice will be finalised.

The conference will highlight the overall situation of Muslims, especially where they are minorities, including Rohingyas and Palestinians. Global terrorism, Islamophobia, humanitarian crises and economic cooperation among the OIC countries will also be discussed at the event.

After the OIC conference, she will perform the holy Umrah and depart for Finland on June 3. She is scheduled to meet Finland’s President Sauli Niinistö. She will then leave Helsinki for New Delhi.

Hasina has planned to make a 12-hour stopover in New Delhi on June 8 on her way back home and is likely to exchange greetings with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, reports UNB.