Japan and Bangladesh on Monday exchanged views on bilateral issues and issues of mutual interest as the two countries celebrate many achievements together.

Newly appointed Japanese Ambassador Iwama Kiminori met Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen at his office at the Ministry on Monday afternoon.

"Since it's our first meeting, we exchanged views," the Ambassador told reporters after the meeting.

On December 26, 2022, Ambassador Kiminori presented his letter of credence to President Md. Abdul Hamid at a special ceremony at Bangabhaban.

"I feel honoured to start undertaking my responsibility as Ambassador in the year of 2022, which marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and Bangladesh. Throughout the year, there must have been moments to look back at progress over the last half century," he said upon his submission of credentials.

Before coming to Bangladesh, he has learned that many Japanese have been involved and worked hard for the development of this country for 50 years as true friends of Bangladesh.

In particular, in recent years, many mega projects contributing to the improvement of economic infrastructure are going on under the Bay of Bengal Industrial Growth Belt initiatives (BIG-B). Given this situation, the importance of Japan, as a major and largest development partner of Bangladesh, has been prospering, he said.

In addition, Bangladesh's economy has been steadily growing and the country is to graduate from LDC by 2026.

"Due to this rapid economic growth, I am feeling that there are increasing expectations from the Japanese business circle to shift their interests from aiding to investing. As Ambassador, I would like to contribute to Bangladesh’s further economic growth by listening to and supporting Japanese companies interested in doing business in this country," he said.