Japan to provide 835m Japanese Yen to Bangladesh;

Staff Reporter: The government of Japan will provide an amount of 835 million Japanese Yen (equivalent to approximately Taka 64.87 crore or $5.45 million) for the project titled `Project for the Improvement of Equipment for Air Pollution Monitoring'.

In this regard, a Grant Agreement and Exchange of Notes were signed today between the Governments of Bangladesh and Japan.

Md Shahriar Kader Siddiky, Secretary, Economic Relations Division (ERD), Ministry of Finance signed the Exchange of Notes and Grant Agreement on behalf of the Government of Bangladesh.

SAIDA Shinichi, Ambassador of Japan in Bangladesh signed the `Exchange of Notes' while ICHIGUCHI Tomohide, Chief Representative, JICA Bangladesh Office, signed the `Grant Agreement' on behalf of the Government' of Japan, said an ERD press release.

IKUINA Akiko, Parliamentary Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs, Government of Japan, officials of Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and Department of Environment were present at the signing ceremony.

The project will be implemented during the period from March 2025 to June 2028 by the Department of Environment under Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

This grant will be utilized for enhancing the capacity to measure and analyze air pollutants derived mainly from vehicle emissions through setting up Continuous Air Monitoring Stations (CAMS) for analyzing the impact of vehicle emissions in Dhaka and Chattogram, thereby contributing to the enhancement of air pollution control capacity.

Japan is the single largest bilateral development partner of Bangladesh. Since independence., Japan has committed $32.61 billion contributing significantly to the overall development of the country.

In addition to soft loans, Japan is also providing significant amounts of Grant and Technical Assistance for different projects, including support to human resource development, socio-economic development and environment protection.

Biniyougbarta/sam//