Japan also highly commended Bangladesh’s humanitarian support to the displaced Myanmar nationals.
The issue came up for discussions at the second Foreign Office Consultation (FOC) between Bangladesh and Japan held in Tokyo on Monday. The first FOC was held in Dhaka on February 2015.
Japan will further promote the Japan-Bangladesh comprehensive partnership and continue to fully support Bangladesh's development on all fronts so that the country can attain the status of a middle-income country by 2021, said Senior Deputy Minister of at Japanese Foreign Ministry Kazuyuki Yamazaki.
Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque is leading a 10-member delegation to Japan for the Foreign Secretary level dialogue.
Bangladesh Ambassador to Japan Rabab Fatima, and representatives from other ministries were also present during the discussion, according to the Foreign Ministry here.
The FOC reviewed the entire gamut of bilateral relations and took stock of the implementation status of decisions taken in the past at different levels of the two governments.
Consensus was reached to strengthen economic and commercial relations, and to explore new areas of cooperation.
The Foreign Secretary expressed hope that Bay of Bengal Industrial Growth Belt (Big-B) Initiative will accelerate cooperation for the development of quality infrastructure and the investment environment in Bangladesh and will strengthen regional connectivity.
He urged Japan’s support to set up skills and Japanese language training center in Bangladesh to train potential Bangladeshi workers for recruitment in highly skilled and less skilled sectors under Japan’s newly adopted immigration law.
Foreign Secretary Haque requested Japan to foster greater friendship and people-to-people exchanges between the two countries.
Defining Bangladesh’s plan to develop inclusive and people-centric blue economy, he called for Japanese assistance and collaboration in deep sea fishing and ocean resource mapping.
On the sidelines of the FOC, Foreign Secretary Haque paid a courtesy call on State Minister of Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of Japan Ichiro Tsukada at his office and discussed issues of mutual interest.
Tsukada is also Secretary General of Bangladesh-Japan Parliamentary Friendship (JBPFL) which works to enhance and strengthen cooperation between parliamentarians of the two countries.
Haque also met Assistant Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobukatsu Kanehara at Prime Minister’s Office and discussed bilateral, regional and strategic issues.