Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya described Japan as a strong development partner in delivery of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Bangladesh. He was delivering a lecture in Tokyo on “Four Years of SDGs in Bangladesh” organised by Japan Society of International Development (JASID), Japan Civil Network on SDGs, Japan-Bangladesh Society and the University of the Sacred Hearts.
The lecture was attended by a large number of government officials, civil society leaders, private sector representatives, academics and students. The session was chaired by Professor Tatsufumi Yamagata, President of JASID. Bangladesh experts in Japan including former Ambassador Matushiro Horiguchi, Professor Maaski Ohashi of Shapla Neer, Dr Mayumi Murayama of Institute of Development Economies (IDE), JETRO and Chika Murakami of Bangla Service of NHK took part in the discussion.
Dr Debapriya shared the Bangladesh’s experience regarding of SDGs with national plans and programmes as well as the country’s efforts to provide ministry-level leadership and localise the SDGs implementation. He also highlighted the financial resource challenges in delivering SDGs.
Dr Debapriya also pointed out that Japan had been a steady international development partner of Bangladesh and had been the single largest source of bilateral foreign aid. The ongoing Japan aided projects amounting US$ 1.7 billion in the areas of Matarbari Coal and Port Projects, the two routes of Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) and preventing non-communicable diseases will strength implementation of SDGs in Bangladesh. However, he pointed out that economic cooperation between Bangladesh and Japan is underperforming. The share of Japan in foreign direct investments in Bangladesh is less than 4 per cent and share of exports from Bangladesh to Japan is less than 3 per cent. Strengthened economic cooperation with Japan will accelerate delivery of SDGs in the country, said Dr Debapriya.
