- Wednesday, May 01, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
Japan has come up with a proposal to develop an industrial hub in Bangladesh with supply chains to the northeastern states of India besides Nepal and Bhutan by developing a port and transport in the region, Reuters reported citing officials as saying on Tuesday (11).
Northeastern Indian is a landlocked region along with countries such as Nepal and Bhutan.
The development comes after Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida’s visit to India in March during which he talked about a new industrial hub for the Bay of Bengal and northeast Indian region that could bolster development of a place where 300 million people live.
The Japanese government subsequently approved $1.27 billion in funding to Bangladesh for three infrastructure projects — including a new commercial port in the Matarbari area with links to adjacent landlocked Indian states such as Tripura and wider international markets, the Reuters report added.
“It can be a win-win plan for India and Bangladesh,” Hiroshi Suzuki, Japan’s ambassador to India said on Tuesday, citing the industrial hub proposal at a two-day meeting in Agartala, the capital of Tripura, featuring officials from India, Bangladesh and Japan.
The envoy said the deep seaport was likely to come into operation by 2027 and would play a key role in building an industrial hub connecting Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, to India’s landlocked areas, the Reuters report added.
Ministers in both Indian and Bangladeshi governments were happy with the move.
While G Kishan Reddy, India’ minister for development of its northeast region, welcomed the Japanese initiative, Bangladeshi minister of state for foreign affairs Shahriar Alam said it would boost trade between India and Bangladesh and help bring in investment from Japan and other countries.
The Matarbari project would be Bangladesh’s first deep-sea port capable of hosting large vessels.
Tripura is located about 100 kilometres (62 miles) from the proposed seaport, and could prove a gateway for regional exporters, Sabyasachi Dutta, head of Asian Confluence, a think-tank which organised the meeting on Tuesday (11) and Wednesday (12), said.
India and Japan have together developed infrastructure projects across South Asian nations such as Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and Africa as an alternative to China’s multibillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative to counter Beijing’s growing influence.
According to the Reuters report, more than 300 Japanese companies were already in operation in Bangladesh and both the countries are likely to sign an economic partnership agreement soon that could further boost manufacturing and attract more foreign companies, he said.
Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina will visit Japan from April 25-28 at Kishida’s invitation, according to a statement from Dhaka.
