Thirty years of Japan-Bangladesh relations

Political and diplomatic relations: Although historically political and strategic considerations played an important role, the exchange of visits by heads of government, ministers, parliamentary leaders, and foreign policy managers contributed to the friendship and communication between the two countries. In this context, the contribution of late Mr. Takashi Hayakawya, the founding President of Bangladesh-Japan Friendship Society and a special envoy of the Japanese government was most noteworthy. He was an influential parliamentarian who developed "love and deep sympathy" for the people of Bangladesh and lobbied throughout his life for the cause of Bangladesh.

Economic relations: As a country that renounced the goal of military supremacy and nuclear power, Japan has been trying to create a desirable international community mainly through economic cooperation and cultural bonds. In fact, it was from 1992 that Japan became the largest donor for Bangladesh and is continuing to keep that position till today. The success of Japan-Bangladesh relations are symbolised by a series of monumental friendship bridges including the Jamuna, massive assistance in power and telecommunication, and establishment of fertiliser factories in addition to host of other social sector development contribution.

Implementation constraints: The performance of Japanese aid, technical assistance and cultural cooperation was very good in the past decades. But the impact of this vast aid of about US $200 million annually on the average was less than optimal. The less competent organisational framework and weak project implementation process of the Bangladesh government -- to evaluate and monitor a large number of programmes -- often led to less optimal results. While Japan's aid has been of high quality, the capacity of aid utilisation needs substantial improvements in the future.

Infrastructure and new priorities: There are some concerns that Japanese aid has been concentrated mainly in infrastructure sector. The impact of such aid has been good, but less optimal because of disproportionate emphasis on this sector. New priorities have emerged in social sectors like health, poverty reduction, environment, disaster management, and education. More assistance needs to be given to grassroots organisations, research institutions, hospitals and local governments. Institutional capacity building for effective governance including human resource management, and poverty reduction through agro-based industries should form the new priority of the future.

Technical cooperation: Role of JAICA: The role of JICA that handles technical cooperation is constrained by institutional and cultural factors. Lack of ownership by governmental institutions is a serious problem. Bangladesh has efficient officers as individuals, but they often lack interest in view, and work in a bad institutional framework. These seriously constrain national goal achievements. The technical cooperation provided by Japan also suffers from lack of cooperation between public and private sector. Too much donors' involvement also complicate aid efforts for achieving targeted goals. Divisive culture and personal interests should pave the way for social cohesion and national interests. Only then, the aid ownership and its full potential can be realised.

Trade and investment shortcomings: There is no denying the fact that Japan moved away from its purely 'commercial interests' to more liberal aid policy, trade concessions and investment opportunities.

Japan would also like to expand trade and investment relations with Bangladesh on mutually beneficial terms. While the trade relations between Japan and Bangladesh continued unabated since the early 1970s, the total volume of trade peaked US $ 600 million. There has not been any significant increase in volume of trade in real terms over the thirty years.

Poor investment climate: Bangladesh's high priority to attract Japanese investment has not been matched by the creation of congenial infrastructure facilities, and administrative and political climate. There is a sense of despair that Bangladesh could not win Japan in this crucial area of attracting investment. Therefore, a serious gap exists for any realistic expectation of Japanese investment in Bangladesh unless there are some fundamental changes in the governance of the country -- in terms of administrative efficiency, combating corruption, improvement in law and order and public-private sector collaboration. Continuity of policy and political stability are two important factors for attracting Japanese investment. These are conveyed to the successive governments, but in reality the situation did not change so far -- that worries Japanese investors.

Future directions: No doubt, the relations between Japan and Bangladesh survived more than thirty years with constructive engagement in many fields. The present global situation brought new imperatives for Japan as well as for Bangladesh in terms of responsibilities and challenges to forge ahead. The long-economic recession in Japan, new ODA priorities, emphasis on grassroots organisations, particularly in human resource development, and new global security environment and economic competition are going to make significant impact on Japan's relations with 'West Asian' countries including Bangladesh. In this context, new structures of relationship, and re-routing of cooperation along these new structures are needed at this juncture of Japan-Bangladesh relations.

Today, Japan expects more mutuality of interests that is contingent upon continuity of a recipient country's policy as well as change that can rebound to the interests of both partners. There is no doubt that investment, tourism and educational exchange, will determine the future dynamics of Japan- Bangladesh relationships. Japan, of course, will promote pro-poor policy and 'self-help' assistance to Bangladesh -- mainly because of her deep sense of responsibility and commitment. In fact, Japan's vision of building network of economic relations and development cooperation hinges on a broader perspective both in terms of economic cooperation as well territorial coverage in terms of regional and inter-regional cooperation. In this context, Japan wants Bangladesh to become a well-governed society where poor are not marginalised, and national determination grow to achieve economic development through building up of democratic institutions, and remedying bureaucratic pathologies.

There is hardly any doubt that we have to strengthen our foreign policy and diplomacy. We need to improve our image abroad. Our foreign policy should cultivate the diplomacy of 'soft-power' of Bangladesh through greater exposure of its culture, education, democratic institutions, social resilience, and religious tolerance in order to win Japan. We have to prioritise our agenda of national development in the context of greater engagement with Japan in a peaceful, democratic and orderly Bangladesh, and in harmony with the neighbours of our region in the emerging global order.

Dr. M. Ataur Rahman is Professor of Political Science and Director, Japan Study Centre, University of Dhaka.