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In My View

Sheikh Hasina’s Japan visit gave a major boost to Dhaka’s ‘Look East’ policy

Published : Friday, 5 May, 2023 at 12:00 AM  Count : 817
Syed Badiuzzaman
As the headline of this article reads, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's just-concluded Japan visit has elevated Bangladesh-Japan relations to new heights turning two friendly countries into "strategic partners" and giving a major boost to Dhaka's "Look East" policy.

After the signing of several agreements in Tokyo, the Bangladesh premier said: "Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and I have discussed the whole range of our bilateral relations and we are happy that Bangladesh and Japan have successfully elevated their existing 'comprehensive partnership' to a 'strategic one.'"

This is a significant development in Bangladesh-Japan relations. Under the "strategic partnership" as mentioned in a joint statement of the two prime ministers, Sheikh Hasina further said: "I am confident that the excellent understanding, friendship and cooperation that exist between our two peoples and governments would grow even stronger in the years ahead."

Japan recognized Bangladesh on February 10, 1972 and thus became one of the earliest nations to officially recognize the new country in South Asia. Right since then, Bangladesh-Japan relations grew from strength to strength as Japan became Bangladesh's most trusted partner for development. The two countries also took common position on many regional and international issues in the past and they continue to do so presently as well.

Since the independence, Japan has been consistently supporting Bangladesh's effort for economic and social development including poverty alleviation. The Far East country intelligently tailored its aid program to encourage self-help efforts in Bangladesh so that the country does not depend excessively on foreign assistance keeping in view Bangladesh's need for resources and its ability to absorb aid as well as service debt.

What is Bangladesh's "Look East" policy and how has it been impacted by Sheikh Hasina's Japan visit? Motivated by lack of progress in trade with the SAARC countries and a perceived domination of neighboring India which had consistently maintained a trade surplus with it, Dhaka launched its "Look East" policy in 2001 after Bangladesh Nationalist Party or BNP led by Khaleda Zia came to power.

The policy was adopted to promote Bangladesh's relations with East and Southeast Asian countries covering economic, defense, cultural and other interests. It encourages signing more bilateral agreements with China and Japan for economic development in Bangladesh. In 2016, China signed a Memorandum of Understanding to provide Bangladesh with $24.45 billion in bilateral assistance for 34 projects marking a milestone in Dhaka's "Look East" policy.

Sheikh Hasina's Japan visit further promoted this policy of Bangladesh. Her trip to the Far East country raised the existing Bangladesh-Japan relations to what she described as a "strategic partnership." This means the two countries are now expected to work together on a broad range of issues beyond trade and economic development. This is a new level of cooperation between Bangladesh and Japan which they never had before in the past.

This is, indeed, a significant moment of Bangladesh-Japan relations as the two countries have agreed to take them to a higher level for the benefit of their people as well as for the greater good of the region and thus the world. A G-7 member, Japan is a rich, powerful and an influential country with significant leverage over many nations. So, by being a strategic partner of Japan, Bangladesh has nothing to lose. This country will rather have many things to gain from the newly established partnership with this Far East nation.

Let us now take a look at some of the concrete achievements of Sheikh Hasina's Japan visit. As Bangladesh press reported, during her recent trip to Tokyo Bangladesh and Japan signed as many as eight agreements on the Rapid Transit System known as Dhaka Metro Rail, agriculture, industrial development, ship recycling, defense cooperation, ICT and cyber security cooperation, customs matters and intellectual property. This is an impressive list of agreements in a wide variety of areas.

And the most important among them is the deal on the ongoing massive urban transportation and communication project of the capital city - the Dhaka Metro. Japan has been involved in this ambitious project funded by Japan International Cooperation Agency or JICA since 2012. MRT Line 6 of the six-line network of the Mass Rapid Transit already began its commercial operation in December last year and on completion of the whole project within the next few years Dhaka will see itself as one of the modern cities of the world.

The agreement between Bangladesh Ministry of Agriculture and Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries is also extremely important. Under this accord, Japan will help Bangladesh in the areas of agricultural research, development and capacity building. Japan is highly developed in smart-farming areas, such as drones and robotics, and has adopted a variety of cutting-edge digital technologies since 2019. So, the Japanese expertise will certainly be of great benefit to Bangladesh which is still a heavily agricultural country.

The accord signed between the Ministry of Commerce of Bangladesh and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan is another very vital deal for   Japanese cooperation in industrial advancement in Bangladesh. Under this deal, the two countries will jointly explore possibilities of upgrading Bangladesh's industries at both government and non-government levels. This step will enhance trade performance and support product diversification and thus contribute to Bangladesh's smooth graduation from a least developed country to a developing nation in 2026 and then to a developed one by 2041 in line with "Vision 2041."

The two prime ministers also reaffirmed their commitment under the shared values of the two countries to a free and open Indo-Pacific where the rights, freedom and sovereignty of all nations regardless of their size and power are protected by the international law. The two leaders reasserted that maritime order based on common values such as freedom of navigation is a cornerstone for stability and prosperity of the international community and noted that the use of the sea as global commons will contribute to the development of blue economy.

In my view, Sheikh Hasina's Japan visit was fairly successful. The Bangladesh delegation got pretty much what they wanted from the host nation. However, opposition BNP leader Mirza Fakrul Islam Alamgir as usually painted a bleak picture of the outcome of the prime minister's visit describing it as "zero." I very much doubt whether any other Bangladesh prime minister got anything more during his or her foreign visit in the past than what Sheikh Hasina fetched from her just-concluded Japan trip. Do politics over political issues, such as election, democracy etc. Why play politics even with a foreign trip of prime minister?

Bangladesh-Japan relations are strong. The friendship between the two countries grew from strength to strength over the last 50 years. Its foundation was laid by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman during his Japan trip in October 1973. And his daughter Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina strengthened this friendship and has now taken it to new heights where no one took before.
The writer is a Toronto-based journalist who also writes for the Toronto Sun as a guest columnist



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