The New Nation - Internet Edition

The Government of Japan and the Government of Bangladesh exchanged Notes on Japanese debt relief measure in the form of cancellation, amounting to 73,861,500,055 Japanese yen (approximately Tk 46 billion or US$680 million).

Masayuki Inoue, Ambassador of Japan to Bangladesh and Md Aminul Islam Bhuiyan, Secretary, Economic Relations Division, Ministry of Finance signed the notes on behalf of their respective governments.

Both governments had already signed the agreement on debt cancellation of 158,090,015,335 yen (about US$ 1,450 million) on March 21, 2004 and the government of Bangladesh was exempted from the repayment of the principals and payment of interests for Japan's ODA loan signed before 1988. Since 2005, the following year of the above-mentioned agreement, the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) has made the cancellation of the payment every fiscal year as the principals and interests became due. The funds cancelled under the agreement have been used for a number of important projects, such as, rehabilitation of Haripur 110 MW power plant, construction of Matuail sanitary landfill in Dhaka, and road construction/ maintenance projects.

Through the signed agreement this time, all the outstanding debt of Bangladesh approximately US$ 680 million out of the cancellation agreed in March 2004 will be all cleared.

After the signing ceremony, Ambassador Inoue said: "The government of Japan had decided the debt cancellation for Bangladesh to reduce its burden for its social and economic development. We hope that the Government of Bangladesh will continue its efforts to achieve the ultimate goal of poverty reduction in this country by using resources which will be available."