Dhaka-Tokyo likely to sign 10 deals and MoUs

Diplomatic Correspondent  :
Bangladesh and Japan are likely to sign 8-10 agreements and memorandums of understanding during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s upcoming visit to Japan.
The agreements are expected to have a significant impact on economic and social cooperation between the two countries.
“Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will visit Japan from April 25-28 at the invitation of Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio. During this visit, there is a possibility of signing 8-10 agreements and memorandums of understanding (MoUs),” Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Seheli Sabrin said this at the weekly briefing in the ministry on Thursday.
Foreign Ministry in a press release issued on 11 April said that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina would be received by the Emperor of Japan, while Kishida Fumio will hold a summit meeting with her.
During the visit, Sheikh Hasina is scheduled to attend an investment summit and a community reception along with few bilateral meetings. She will also hand over the “Friends of Liberation War Honour” to a few Japanese nationals.
Both the Governments of Bangladesh and Japan hope that this visit will further strengthen the friendly relations between the two countries.  This will be the sixth visit of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to Japan. Earlier, she visited Japan in 1997, 2010, 2014, 2016 and 2019.
Apart from this, Seheli Sabrin also informed the media that the internationally renowned research organisation, India Foundation, affiliated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh and the Ministry of External Affairs of India, is set to jointly host the 6th edition of the “Indian Ocean Conference” at Hotel Inter Continental in Dhaka on May 12-13, 2023.
“The honorable Prime Minister has given her approval in principle for the arrangement of the conference. She will inaugurate the conference on May 12 and a dinner will be hosted in honor of the guests attending the conference,” she stated.
“The regional political forum and Bangladesh’s partnership with India as our closest neighbor, as well as the changing geopolitical and geo-economic realities, make the conference in Bangladesh particularly important,” the spokesperson said.
Before the inauguration of the conference on May 12th, several pre-conference workshops will be held, and a ministerial-level meeting will be held on May 13th.
The President of Mauritius has already expressed his willingness to participate in the conference. In addition, foreign ministers from several other countries (Bhutan, Sri Lanka) and Japan’s Vice Minister have confirmed their participation in the conference, she said.
Since 2016, India Foundation has been regularly organizing the “Indian Ocean Conference” in collaboration with various countries’ governments. While the conference primarily focuses on countries bordering the Indian Ocean, it also discusses various important and relevant global issues.
So far, a total of five conferences have been held in Singapore (2016), Sri Lanka (2017), Vietnam (2018), Maldives (2019), and the United Arab Emirates (2021). The sixth edition of the conference is scheduled to be held in Bangladesh.
Every year, important figures such as heads of state/government, ministers, leaders of various multinational organizations, and researchers participate in the conference.
It is expected that one or two heads of state, as well as ministers from various countries and representatives from high-level sectors, internationally renowned panelists, educators, and researchers will participate in the conference held in Bangladesh, the spokesperson and also the Director General of Public Diplomacy Wing noted.