Japan pledges 46.56 billion yen in loans to Bangladesh

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Humaiun Kobir announced the package at the embassy in Tokyo on 28 October. According to The Business Standard, 15.88 billion yen (about 100.8 million dollars) of the loans will go to improving the investment climate and 30.68 billion yen (about 194.7 million dollars) to the second phase of an upazila-level governance project. The grant is worth about 13.44 million dollars. A memorandum of cooperation on the business environment was also signed between Japan's economy ministry METI and Bangladesh's Economic Relations Division, and another 17 private-sector memoranda were signed at JETRO.

The Daily Star reports that the summit with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took place on 27 October. It highlighted the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA, a comprehensive trade deal that sets customs and investment rules together) as the first such agreement Bangladesh has signed with any country. The paper gives no implementation timetable. At an economic forum on 28 October, Rahman listed 3 complaints from Japanese companies: reliable energy, efficient infrastructure, and predictable customs and taxation. He asked the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) to open an office in Dhaka. The same day he urged Uniqlo owner Fast Retailing to expand its investment in synthetic fibres and technical textiles.

The two sources classify the instruments differently. Kobir counts 4 memoranda of cooperation, 1 grant agreement and 1 letter of intent, while The Daily Star, citing Japan's Foreign Ministry, describes the grant item as an exchange of notes rather than an agreement. A plan to upgrade BIG-B, the major Bay of Bengal infrastructure initiative, under a new name appears only in one headline; the details could not be verified.