Newsletter No. 17
June 18, 2005

 

PRIME MINISTER ZIA OF BANGLADESH TO VISIT JAPAN

It has been announced that Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia of Bangladesh will be visiting Japan for four days from July 12th to July 15th. On the 14th, she is scheduled to have dinner with Prime Minister Koizumi. On the following day she will meet with the Emperor.

On the agenda are UNSC matters, a memorandum on the sending of Bangladeshi workers to Japan for training, and the Bangladeshi effort to encourage more Japanese foreign investment in their country.

In reference to these matters, the following exchanges occurred at a MOFA press conference yesterday:

Question: During the recent visit of Senior Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Ichiro Aisawa to Bangladesh, the Japanese side requested Bangladesh to be a joint sponsor of the draft proposal to the UN on behalf of the Group of Four (G4) countries. The response of Bangladesh is still not clear. Is this topic once again going to be on the table during Prime Minister Zia's visit? Is Japan going to request Bangladesh to be a joint sponsor of the draft proposal to the UN on behalf of the G4 countries?

Mr. Takashima: I would expect that the issue of UN reform will certainly come up as one of the main agenda items of the talks between Prime Minister Koizumi and Prime Minister Zia. UN reform is currently the number one foreign affairs issue so far as Japan is concerned. Japan is promoting the idea of expanding the Security Council along with other members of the G4 in both permanent members and non-permanent members. We are drafting the resolution on this, and we recently made adjustments or some changes to the wording and the content of the draft resolution. Therefore, these changes will also be discussed. I would not be surprised if further request is made from Japan to Bangladesh to become a cosponsor of this resolution when it is actually being tabled at the General Assembly of the UN.

Question: What are the issues that are going to be focused on at the Japan-Bangladesh summit meeting?

Mr. Takashima: We expect that UN reform would be one of the agenda items. In addition to that, Japan's economic assistance to Bangladesh will certainly come up. At the same time, we expect that training of Bangladeshi workers in Japan will be one of the agenda items to be discussed between Prime Minister Koizumi and Prime Minister Zia. Moreover, there will be a wide range of discussions, and certainly the international situation, especially the situation in southwest Asia, would be one of the major subjects to be discussed.

On June 10th-11th, Japan’s Senior Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Ichiro Aisawa had visited Bangladesh and was able to elicit support for Japan’s bid to become a permanent member of the UNSC. However, Bangladesh has so far declined being a co-sponsor for Japan’s UN resolution draft.

At a press conference held at Dhaka’s Sonargaon Pan Pacific Hotel on June 10th, Aisawa had made the following points in relation to Japan-Bangladesh relations according to The New Nation newspaper of Bangladesh:

“He said Japan highly appreciates Bangladesh’s contribution to the UN peacekeeping operations around the world. Japan and Bangladesh need to continue their cooperation to achieve international peace and to achieve UN Millennium Development Goals through responsible actions. He assured that Japan would continue its support and assistance for the economic development of Bangladesh, particularly in the fields of infrastructures and social development. Tokyo would continue to extend its support to Dhaka in its infrastructure development like bridges and roads, he said, adding that Bangladesh is being considered one of the priority countries in receiving the Official Development Assistance (ODA) of Japan. Referring to the construction of the Rupsha Bridge in Khulna in assistance with the Japanese government, he said that it would not only provide easy communication to the people of the region, but also contribute to form the basis of the improvement of the economy of Bangladesh.”

Sources:

Financial Express, “Bangladesh Celebrates ‘National Day’ in World Expo 2005,” Financial Express, June 11, 2005.

MOFA, “Press Conference June 17, 2005.”

New Nation, “UN Security Council Seat: Bangladesh Supports Japan’s Candidature,” New Nation, June 11, 2005.