Japan has agreed on principle to further relax the rules of origin for allowing Bangladeshi knitwear products to enter its market and decided to provide official development assistance to build a separate railway bridge on the river Jamuna. This was disclosed by Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque at a briefing at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday saying it as big achievement for the government. “Japan has agreed to relax the rules of origin for Bangladesh on principle while the modalities and other formalities in this regard are being worked out,” Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque told reporters at the ministry. He came up with the decision after the first-ever Foreign Office Consultations (FOC) between Bangladesh and Japan held at the Foreign Ministry. Earlier, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina during her last visit to Tokyo requested her Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe to relax the rules of origin, said the Foreign Secretary. Japan has not been giving GSP benefit on certain knitwear products to Bangladesh as the country needs to buy fabrics for those high quality products from outside. “Further relaxation in the rules of origin will ensure duty-free access to Japanese market,” he said adding that Bangladesh exports knitwear goods worth $500 million annually to Japan and it may rise. The foreign secretary said Japan expressed satisfaction over the progress of setting up a special economic zone for the Japanese investors. “You know the issue was finalised on Thursday.” Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Islam and Japanese Deputy Foreign Minister Shinsuke Sugiyama led Bangladesh and Japan sides respectively at the FOC which reviewed the entire gamut of bilateral relations. Trade and investment issues were discussed in the meeting apart from reviewing the progress and agreed projects. “Both sides expressed satisfaction over the progress. The progress is virtually good,” the foreign secretary said. The Japanese side made it clear that they want to help Bangladesh for its industrialisation through massive investment, he said. Concerning the five mega infrastructure projects that were identified by the two Prime Ministers, the Japanese side informed that they have already made a preliminary decision to provide ODA for the project of building a dedicated rail bridge over Jamuna paralleled to the Bangabandhu Bridge. For other four projects, namely Ganges Barrage, multimodal tunnel under Jamuna, Dhaka Eastern Bypass; and ecological restoration of four rivers around Dhaka, two sides are discussing on the modalities. “Tokyo reaffirms its commitment to further strengthen its bilateral relationship with Bangladesh based on the “Comprehensive Partnership” agreed upon between the two Prime Ministers last year,”,said Shinsuke Sugiyama. The Japanese side thanked the Bangladesh government for withdrawing its candidature for the non-permanent seat at the UN Security Council in favour of Japan demonstrating the high importance Bangladesh attaches to its relations with Japan. Bangladesh appreciated Japan’s decision of increasing the number of JDS scholarships for Bangladeshi students at 25 from 15.
