DHAKA, June 30, 2019 (BSS) – Japan and Bangladesh will work closely to ensure an efficient water management system exchanging expertise to establish a State-Of-Art institute to achieve the SDG’s targets in line with Delta Plan-2100.
The information came up in a meeting while the Japanese Minister of State for Environment Minoru Kiuchi called on State Minister for Water Resources Zaheed Farooque at his office here this morning, a press release said.
The name of this State-Of-Art institute is ‘The Bengal Delta International Hydraulic Training and Research Institute’, it added.
During the discussion, Farooque informed his Japanese counterpart about the various initiatives taken by the Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR) under the prudent leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina saying Bangladesh is working relentlessly to address the changing issues of global warming and its subsequent impacts.
Mentioning since Bangladesh is a riverine country and situated to the downstream of the greatest deltaic plain confluence of the Padma, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers and their tributaries, he said “So the effect of climate change will be huge to us as we’ve experienced some hazards already.”
To deal with the challenges, Bangladesh has taken a long-term planning termed as Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100, he said, adding: “To create an expert pool for this plan, we are going to establish an international standard institute.
Mentioning Japan is a proven partner in progress for Bangladesh and to its people, he sought support from his Japanese counterpart in relevant sectors for the development of water resources in Bangladesh.
Japanese Minister of State replied that they would be always beside to any operative initiative conducted by Bangladesh to mitigate the consequential impacts of climate change.
Japan also likes to work together with Bangladesh for ascertaining a sustainable water management system, the Japanese minister said.
Led by Japanese Minister of State for Environment, a seven-member team took part in meeting.
Secretary to the Japanese Minister of State for the Environment Hiroaki Murai, Director for International Strategy Division of Global Environment Bureau Fumio Ito, Section Chief of International Cooperation and Sustainable Infrastructure Office Hisato Hayasaka, Researcher of International Cooperation and Sustainable Infrastructure Office Mahoyo Yamamoto, Counsellor of Embassy of Japan in Bangladesh Yasuharu Shinto and Second Secretary of Embassy of Japan in Bangladesh Masatoshi Higuchi accompanied Minister of State for Environment of Japan.
Additional Secretary of MoWR Mahmudul Islam and Minister of State’s Private Secretary Nur Alam were present on Bangladeshi minister’s side during
the period.