DHAKA, Dec 17, 2018 (BSS) Japan has reiterated its continued support for the safe and voluntary return and resettlement of Rohingyas to their place of origin in Rakhine state of Myanmar.
Japan also highly commended Bangladesh’s humanitarian support to the displaced Myanmar nationals as the issue came up for discussions at the second Foreign Office Consultation (FOC) between Bangladesh and Japan held in Tokyo on Monday, according to a message received here.
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.