ニュース 2009/06/10 Maehara exchanges opinions with Bangladesh State Minister for Foreign Affairs On June 10, DPJ Vice President Seiji Maehara welcomed Bangladesh State Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr. Mohammed Hasan Mahmud to party headquarters for discussions on a variety of matters. The meeting was also attended by Next Vice Minister for Defence and Director of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defense in the House of Councillors Yasuo Ichikawa, and DPJ members of the same House Committee, members of the House of Councillors Yukihisa Fujita and Yoshihiro Kawakami. At the start of the meeting, Maehara welcomed Mahmud, and the Minister said, “Thank you for giving up your valuable time to meet with me so close to the election.” During the discussion, Mahmud said that it was thanks to Japan’s generous assistance that current day Bangladesh had come into being, and expressed his gratitude for Japanese aid. At the same time, he explained conditions in Bangladesh, revealing that democracy had not always been firmly established in the period since the end of the war of independence in 1971. He stated, “Democracy in the true sense of the word has finally been realised in the past 5 months. Up until that time we have had a succession of interim governments propped up by the military.” As a result of the general election that took place on December 29 of last year, the ruling coalition had succeeded in gaining the support of three-quarters of the electorate, and 90% of the seats in parliament, and the establishment of a real democracy had been achieved. Mahmud added, “The situation is that we do not always receive representative assistance in terms of trade and investment.” He stressed that he would particularly like to call on Japan to promote trade and investment in Bangladesh, stating, “I have come here with the intention of asking for your cooperation in strengthening and broadening the economic cooperation between Japan and Bangladesh.” Maehara responded, “I am in favour of strengthening our bilateral relationship by broadening trade and investment.” He explained that post WWII Japan had also received assistance from other countries, with which she had built motorways and the bullet train, and had achieved self-sufficiency. He emphasised, “Now that Japan has achieved economic development, I believe that it is our turn to support developing nations.” Maehara added, “I believe that if you can revamp your investment environment with the help of this kind of investment, then the increase of such investment from Japan will ultimately lead to Bangladesh being transformed from an aid recipient into an aid donor.” He also touched on the subject of the dissolution of the Diet for the purpose of calling a general election, saying, “We will do our best to bring about a change of government. Following this, we have many experts in foreign policy who will work hard to further strengthen the bilateral relationship with Bangladesh under the leadership of Prime Minister Hatoyama.”