Bangladesh and Japan on Tuesday signed exchange of notes of the 43rd Official Development Assistance (ODA) yen loan and grant aid of Japan to Bangladesh.

The first batch of the 43rd yen loan amounts to 165.861 billion yen or approximately USD 1.23 billion and grant aid is to provide additional grant for the costs of “the Project for Improvement of Meteorological Radar System in Dhaka and Rangpur,” which is incurred due to the COVID-19 circumstances.

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Japanese Ambassador to Bangladesh Ito Naoki and Secretary, Economic Relations Division Fatima Yasmin signed the document.

Based on this agreement between the two counties, Hayakawa Yuho, Chief Representative of JICA Bangladesh Office and Fatima Yasmin signed a relevant loan agreement and grant agreement.

“I’m pleased to be able to sign the exchange of notes with regard to 43rd Japanese yen loan package. The first batch of the 43rd round of yen loans includes two projects in the package,” said the Japanese ambassador.

One is to develop roads, drainage and water supply facilities, agriculture-related facilities, and waste management facilities in the southern Chattogram area.

The other is the northern route of MRT Line 5, which connects Dhaka’s MRT transportation network in an east-west direction, will be developed to improve the functioning of the urban transportation network.

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“With the additional Grant Aid, the Japanese companies involved can proceed and complete the construction work hopefully by 2025. I am sure today’s signings have shown further willingness of the Japanese people to contribute to the fast and sustainable growth of Bangladesh,” said ambassador Naoki at the signing ceremony.

Japan has been the single largest bilateral donor for Bangladesh since 2012, and the total amount of its aid as Yen Loan has reached USD 25.59 billion (commitment base).