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A project funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for capacity building of the Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA) was formally inaugurated on Tuesday.
The event was held in the BEZA conference room in the capital.
BEZA General Manager Mohammad Hassan Arif, also the project director, said some significant work under the project includes setting up central and regional one-stop service centres, undertaking capacity building activities related to economic management, and enhancing investment development activities.
JICA signed the project’s Record of Discussion on March 27 this year.
The project aims to improve the investment climate in economic zones (EZs) by establishing a self-sustaining operational structure for the One-Stop Service Centre (OSSC), which is responsible for receiving applications and granting permits for investment procedures at the BEZA headquarters and in regional EZs.
BEZA Executive Chairman Shaikh Yusuf Harun said investment enhancement is a service delivery capability and promotion activity that can be achieved through this project.
Japan’s Ambassador to Bangladesh Ito Naoki, who was the chief guest at Tuesday’s programme, said the bilateral relations between the two countries were getting stronger day by day and had achieved another milestone through the project’s inauguration.
He said Japan is a partner in Bangladesh’s progress. Bangladesh was moving positively towards a 7.5 per cent gross domestic product (GDP)
growth by overcoming the Covid-19 pandemic impacts and increasing the quality of services offered to investors, he added.
JICA Bangladesh Chief Representative Yuho Hayakawa said the project would add a new dimension to the exchange of skills between the two countries and also facilitate investment by developing quality management in EZs.
Yuji Ando, country representative of the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO), said eight per cent of Japanese companies are interested in expanding their business in Bangladesh.
Additional Secretary of the Economic Relations Division Muhammad Ashraf Ali Faruk said the project would enhance the service delivery capacity in Bangladesh as well as the quality of modern and digital services.
