On 17 July 2023, H.E. Mr. IWAMA Kiminori, Ambassador of Japan to Bangladesh and Ms. Sharifa Khan, Secretary, Economic Relations Division, Ministry of Finance signed the Exchange of Notes on the Japanese Grant aid titled “the Project for Human Resource Development Scholarship (JDS)”（up to JPY 472 million, about USD 3 million）.
Based on this agreement between the two counties, Mr. ICHIGUCHI Tomohide, Chief Representative of JICA Bangladesh Office and Ms. Sharifa Khan signed a relevant Grant Agreement.
Since its inception in 2002, 477 Bangladeshi officials as master’s degree students and 15 officials as doctoral degree students have studied in Japan under the JDS scheme. In Japanese Fiscal Year 2022, Bangladesh ranked 1st in the world in terms of the number of JDS dispatchers.
“Bangladesh is aiming at elevating to the developed countries in less than 20 years. In order to achieve this goal, the role of government officials in this country is essential. I do believe that the contribution of our Government to the excellent officials in Bangladesh has substantially contributed to the development of this country since 2002. I do hope that the dispatch of young officials through our grant aid will be meaningful assistance to the development of Bangladesh for another 20 years.” said Ambassador IWAMA.