Staff Reporter :
The Japanese Ambassador to Bangladesh, Shiro Sadoshima, on Tuesday said that Bangladesh must take a serious look at East and get connected with the huge supply chain for gaining immense trade benefit.
“But unfortunately, for the moment, this country’s orientation is looking at West. Now we say that take very serious look at the East,” he said while addressing a country lecture titled ‘Japan-Bangladesh Comprehensive Partnership’ arranged by Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS) at its auditorium in the city.
BIISS Chairman Munshi Faiz Ahmad presided over the lecture programme while its Director General Maj Gen AKM Abdur Rahman also spoke on the occasion.
The diplomat said his country is asking Bangladesh to take an approach towards the East, not only Japan but Korea, China and many other countries that can buy Bangladeshi products.
He mentioned that only 2 per cent of Bangladesh’s total RMG export is going to
Japan whereas some 80 per cent of RMG is going to North America and European market.
“There’s huge potential…Japan’s buying capacity is huge. Japan is one of the top three RMG importing countries but you’re exporting such a small amount,” the envoy said.
About the future of Bangladesh’s development, Sadoshima said that diversification of its industrial base is a key to the country’s future development.
He said Bangladesh is standing around a very important ‘strategic corner’ and it must take full advantage of all global initiatives for its next stage of economic development.
“From this strategic perspective Bangladesh occupies a very important position…a linchpin position,” the envoy said linking between the Pacific Oceans and Indian Oceans where a huge supply chain exists for Bangladesh to grab.
Japan is promoting an initiative titled ‘Bay of Bengal Industrial Growth Belt (BIG-B) in Bangladesh’ to help Bangladesh reach a newer stage of economic development through diversifying its industrial base with the production of highly value-added goods.
When former Ambassador Humayun Kabir wanted to know in which direction Bangladesh should go for as China and the United States are talking about their own initiatives linking Bangladesh.
In response, Sadoshima said their (Japan) or some others initiatives are not ‘mutually exclusive’; rather more important thing is that Bangladesh is sitting in the driving seat.
“So you’re in a position to take full advantage of all those initiatives for your own benefits. That’s the most important point I think,” said the Japanese diplomat.
Sadoshima, however, trashed the notion that is in the public domain through media report that Japan and China are competing with each other for doing business in Bangladesh.
“That’s not true. What we do is also beneficial to other countries as well .Our initiative is not mutually exclusive with any other initiative. The diplomat, however, said his Embassy in Dhaka invented a word ‘BTM’ – Better than Myanmar-and they are competing with their own Embassy in Yangon to attract more investors and trade partners from Japan.
About Japanese investment in Bangladesh, he said time has come for both countries to make ‘actions’ and to invite Japanese potential investors creating required environment for investments. “Our mission is to provide very good business environment for our potential investors here.”
The Japanese Ambassador laid emphasis on vocational training to train young workforce and make them fit for current job market. “You need a sizeable number of trained workforces if you want to diversify your industrial bases towards high-tech industries.”
Referring to bottlenecks, Sadoshima said inadequate supply of electricity in line with growing demand, lack of proper transportation facilities and other infrastructure remain challenge for Bangladesh. “We want help your government to overcome these challenges…we believe that it’ll also facilitate Bangladesh to consolidate its base for future development,” he added.
On regional stability and peace, Sadoshima said Bangladesh should obviously play a very important role in bringing about more stable and prosperous economy and stable society to the entire region. About cultural cooperation, he said, Tokyo is discussing how to reorient its cultural diplomacy overseas.
The diplomat said at this moment they are not sure how much they will be successful and they can diversify cultural activities and number of programmes depending on final decision on financing.
On delay of project implementation funded by JICA, he said, “We’re now encouraging your government to speed it up. We’d like talk to your government intensively how our programmes can be implemented smoothly.” Scholars, members of academia and policymakers participated in the open discussion sessions.
