Polls internal affairs of Bangladesh

Japanese Ambassador to Bangladesh Iwama Kiminori has said he will not comment on Bangladesh’s upcoming national election.

“It is an internal affair of Bangladesh,” he told a press conference at the Japanese embassy in the capital yesterday.

The envoy made the comments after a journalist asked whether Japan changed its position on the election after the Bangladesh-Japan relations were elevated to “strategic partnership” through the Bangladesh PM’s recent visit to Japan.

The journalist referred to previous Japanese ambassador Ito Naoki’s comment that he heard about ballot-box stuffing by police on the night before the polling day in 2018.

Naoki in November last year expressed optimism that Bangladesh’s next parliamentary polls would be free and fair.

Yesterday’s press briefing was organised to inform the media about the April 26 meeting between Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida.

Kiminori said Japanese companies want Bangladesh to improve investment environment so that they can increasingly invest in the country.

Japan is now implementing some major infrastructure projects in Bangladesh and it wants to develop an industrial and connectivity hub centering Matarbari, he added.

The diplomat said that tax policy, duties and long delay in approving investment proposals remain some major issues that hinder foreign direct investment in Bangladesh.

He said getting duty-free facilities after the graduation from LDC status will be very difficult for Bangladesh, and the country has to be ready to face this reality.

Kiminori said Bangladesh and Japan were discussing an economic partnership agreement or FTA to take forward bilateral trade.

He said Dhaka and Tokyo are in talks over transfer of defence equipment and technology to Bangladesh. He, however, refused to disclose further details on this as discussions were underway.