Bangladesh's Information and Communication Technology (ICT) exports to Japan have experienced a remarkable growth, reaching 120 million dollars with a 30 percent increase. This signals a potential hike in the country's export earnings.
Japan expressed its keen interest in recruiting skilled IT engineers from Bangladesh and sees the potential for this income to surge into billions of dollars in the near future.
The Japanese Commerce Minister, Nishimura Yasutoshi, evinced his country's interest during a bilateral meeting between him and state minister Zunaid Ahmed Palak, held at Hotel Sonagaon in the capital on Sunday.
Following the fruitful meeting, Palak informed reporters that Japan has invited a Bangladeshi trade delegation to visit Japan in September-October to explore investment opportunities in smart-up initiatives, hardware development, and skill enhancement programs. Additionally, Bangladesh has expressed its desire to become a research and development (R&D)
hub for Japanese companies.
During the meeting, seven key issues were discussed, and Japan showed a particular interest in investing in Bangladesh's hardware and startup sectors after its successful experience with software exports. To address the manpower shortage, there were talks about providing training to fresh graduates from Bangladesh in cutting-edge fields such as AI, robotics, microchip design, and cybersecurity. As part of this collaboration, the Bangladesh-Japan IT Institute and Incubation
Center will be established in Pashapashi Hi-Tech Park. Both countries are expected to engage in joint partnerships in these areas.
In a significant move, major Japanese companies, including Sony, Hitachi, Toshiba, Toyota, Nissan, and Kawasaki, have expressed their intent to establish research and development centres in Bangladesh. The Bangladesh government plans to prioritize Japan as its sixth largest export destination for the software sector, and it aims to provide services to Japan's service industry from Bangladesh.
The State Minister emphasized the importance of this meeting in shaping a "Smart Bangladesh" by the year 2041.
The discussions held with the Japanese delegation, including UMEDA Hideyuki, Director of the Overseas Energy Infrastructure Office of the Ministry of Economy,
Trade, and Industry of Japan, Matsuo Takehiko, Director-General of the Trade Policy Bureau, Murayama Katsuhiko, Director of the Southwest Asia Office of the Trade Policy Bureau, Iwama Kiminori, the Japanese Ambassador to Bangladesh, and other officials from the ICT Department, have paved the way for promising collaborations between the two countries.
