Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, centre, delivering a speech as Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, right, and Finance Minister Taro Aso, third left, listen, during a banquet hosted by Abe at Abe’s residence in Tokyo yesterday.

AFP

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe yesterday pledged loans and other economic aid worth $5.9bn to Bangladesh over the next five years.

Abe made the promise as he held talks with his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina who arrived in Tokyo on Sunday, the foreign ministry said.

Japan will provide Bangladesh with assistance worth up to ¥600bn ($5.9bn), mainly government loans, over four or five years, a statement said.

The sum will include a loan package totalling ¥120bn which was promised by Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida during his visit to Bangladesh in March.

The multi-year assistance is expected to cover public works such as construction of roads and power plants, local media said.

“Bangladesh has great economic potential,” Abe told reporters, according to Kyodo News.

“In order to realise its potential and expedite further growth, Japan has come up with the concept of the Bay of Bengal
industrial growth belt,” he said.

Hasina, who met Emperor Akihito earlier in the day, is scheduled to stay in Japan until tomorrow.

During the summit talks, the two prime ministers agreed to strengthen ties between the two countries on a variety of fronts.

According to government officials, Abe and Hasina traversed a number of topics on bilateral co-operation.

The Bangladesh prime minister during her trip is also scheduled to hold talks with Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Taro Aso, who currently presides over the Japan-Bangladesh Parliamentary Association and Sadako Ogata, president of the Japan International Co-operation Agency.

Hasina will also give a key note speech to business leaders at an event jointly organised by the Japan External Trade Organisation and the Japan Bangladesh Commission for Commercial and Economic Co-operation, as well as at Waseda University in Tokyo.