New Delhi Japan has proposed to develop an industrial hub in Bangladesh, a port and transport to the landlocked northeastern states around India and the region beyond Nepal and Bhutan. Officials gave this information on Tuesday.
This comes after Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s visit to India last month in which he pitched the idea of a new industrial hub for the Bay of Bengal and Northeast India that could boost development in the impoverished region of 300 million people.
Following Kishida’s visit, his government approved $1.27 billion in funding for three infrastructure projects to Bangladesh – including a new commercial port in the Matarbari region, with links to nearby Indian states including Tripura and to the wider international market. Links are included.
“It can be a win-win plan for India and Bangladesh,” Japanese Ambassador to India Hiroshi Suzuki said at a meeting of Indian, Bangladeshi and Japanese officials in Tripura state capital Agartala on Tuesday, citing the industrial hub proposal. “
He said the Deep Seaport is likely to be operational by 2027 and will be the key to making Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka an industrial hub connecting landlocked areas of India.
G Kishan Reddy, Union Minister for North Eastern Region of India welcomed the Japanese initiative in the meeting. Bangladesh’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam said it would boost Indian-Bangladeshi trade and help bring Japanese and other foreign investments.
The envisaged Matarbari project will be Bangladesh’s first deep-sea port capable of hosting large vessels.
Tripura state is about 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the proposed port, and could prove to be a gateway for regional exporters, said Sabyasachi Dutta, head of Asian Confluence, a think-tank that organized the two-day meeting.
India and Japan have jointly developed infrastructure projects in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Africa as an alternative to China’s multi-billion dollar Belt and Road Initiative to contain the spread of Chinese influence.
Suzuki said that more than 300 Japanese companies are already operating in Bangladesh. He said the two countries are expected to sign an economic partnership agreement soon which could boost manufacturing and attract more foreign companies.
An official statement said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina would visit Japan from April 25 to 28 at the invitation of Kishida.
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