Dhaka, 12th November 2020: Mr.ITO Naoki, Ambassador of Japan delivered an online lecture “Japan and Bangladesh 50 Years of Friendship-” for the military officers studying at Defence Services Command and Staff College (DSCSC) Mirpur Cantonment,Dhaka. Ambassador ITO emphasized how committed Japan has been to realizing prosperity of Bangladesh and maintaining peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. At the lecture, more than 200 students of the DSCSC Masters’ program interactively discussed the relationships between Japan and Bangladesh.
Ambassador emphasized the expanding economic ties between the two countries, quality infrastructure projects under BIG-B, and the common vision of Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP). Ambassador also asked the officers for increasing interactions between the peoples by taking the opportunity of the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and the 50th anniversary of the diplomatic relations in 2022.
During the Q&A session, in response to a question on how Japan helps to solve the Rogingya issue, Ambassador said that Japan will work towards the early repatriation, communicating with Myanmar to this end. Ambassador also mentioned that it is important to cooperate with international community such as US, European countries and ASEAN
Countries and start the confidence building process as the next step. The Q&A session also covered the cooperation between the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force and the Bangladesh Navy.
About Free and Open Indo-Pacific
Free and Open Indo-Pacific(FOIP) is a vision to promote peace and prosperity of the countries in the Indo-Pacific region. The core pillars of FOIP are to establish a rules-based international order and consolidate principles such as free trade, freedom of navigation, and the rule of law, to pursue economic prosperity through quality infrastructure and connectivity, and to promote cooperation on peace and stability including anti-terrorism, humanitarian assistance and disaster management. Together with like-minded countries that share the vision, Japan is vigorously leading efforts to this end.
About the BIG-B initiative
In 2014, Japan and Bangladesh agreed to launch the initiative of “the Bay of Bengal Industrial Growth Belt (BIG-B)”.The BIG-B initiative is to develop infrastructure, improve investment environment and foster connectivity along the Dhaka-Chattogram -Cox’s Bazar belt area and beyond. Moheshkhali-Matarbari Integrated Infrastructure Development Initiative(MIDI), the largest Infrastructure project of Bangladesh, is an integral part of BIG-B.
