Mangoes, litchis for Japanese leaders

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina would offer “mangoes and litchis” to entertain Japanese dignitaries following Bangladeshi tradition during her four-day visit to Japan beginning tomorrow.

The fabled “mango and litchi diplomacy” is purely to make the existing excellent relations sweeten further, diplomatic sources say.

Besides, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam is personally sending mangoes from his hometown Rajshahi to Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso. Shahriar has a special rapport with the former prime minister of Japan.

Special mangoes and litchis from Rajshahi have been added to the menu for the inauguration ceremony of the newly constructed chancery of Bangladesh embassy in Tokyo.

Hasina would formally inaugurate the Chancery Bhaban on May 29. A large number of high-profile Japanese government leaders, lawmakers, officials and other dignitaries are expected to attend the ceremony.

Foreign ministry officials say the premier will fly for Tokyo to attend the G7 Outreach Meetings on June 27 on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Ise-Shima, Japan.

Apart from holding a bilateral meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on May 28, Hasina would have the opportunity to meet G7 leaders as well as other heads of states and governments.

The mangoes and litchis would be carried in a special aircraft, in which Hasina and her entourage would travel to Tokyo, the state minister said.

He said the guests at the inauguration ceremony would be entertained with Rajshahi's famous mangoes and litchis. “I am also sending mangoes personally for the Japanese finance minister in the same aircraft,” he added.

The construction of the chancery in Tokyo was a project taken in 2011 following allotment of a piece of land by the Japanese government.

However, the project hit the snag as it had been facing legal, bureaucratic and technical complexities for more than three years, officials said. Finally, under a changed law, Japanese firm Muramoto Corporation constructed the chancery at a cost of 1.143 billion Japanese yen (equivalent to Tk 9.944 million).

Bangladesh has got an allotment of a 714-square-metre piece of land in the diplomatic zone of Tokyo at a cost of 1.117 billion Japanese yen in April 2008 under a condition that the complex be constructed by June 30, 2012.

In default, the Bangladesh embassy was supposed to face a penalty of 111.7 million yen. However, after a series of successful negotiations, the Bangladesh government has managed to extend the deadline and completed the construction recently.

G7 OUTREACH MEETINGS

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has invited a number of heads of states and governments, including Hasina, of non-G7 countries and chairpersons of international organisations to partially take part in the summit.

This will be Hasina's second trip to Japan in her current tenure since she visited the country on May 25-28, 2014. Earlier, she visited Japan in 1997 and 2010.

Diplomatic sources say though Hasina is going to attend a multilateral forum, she will have an important bilateral meeting with her Japanese counterpart when the two leaders discuss an entire range of bilateral issues, especially Japanese assistance in large development projects in Bangladesh.

Hasina will also hold a meeting with the Japanese business community to encourage them for investment in Bangladesh, considering the current stable political environment and sound economic growth, they add. She will also address a gathering of Bangladesh community in Japan.

Japan has indicated that the topic of one of the outreach meetings will focus on Asia. In another outreach session, participants will address the Sustainable Development Goals with a focus on Africa.

From Asean and South Asian states, the heads of states and governments of Laos, Vietnam, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Papua New Guinea have been invited.

In addition, the head of state and government of Chad -- the current chairperson of the African Union -- and the chairpersons of the UN, OECD, ADB, IMF and the World Bank are also invited from the international organisations.