Japan will provide US $28.7 million as grant for implementation of two projects on Improvement of Equipment for Technical Education, and Development of Bangladesh Institute of Governance and Management (BIGM).

To this effect, the Exchange of Notes on the Japanese Grant Aid for 2 projects were signed by Iwama Kiminori, Ambassador of Japan to Bangladesh and Sharifa Khan, Secretary, Economic Relations Division, Ministry of Finance, representing the respective government.

One is to provide the grant for the “Project for Improvement of Equipment for Technical Education” US $7.7 million.

Another is to provide an additional grant for the costs of the development of Bangladesh Institute of Governance and Management (BIGM, the augmented grant of which is up to JPY 2,762 million, about US $21 million.

The grant for the “Project for Improvement of Equipment for Technical Education” is to provide training equipment in the field of electrical, electronic, mechanical and computer to Dhaka Polytechnic Institute, Dhaka Mohila Polytechnic Institute, and Technical Teachers Training College.

This supports human resource development with a scientific and mathematical background and engineering skills, with a view to shifting the industrial structure in order to ensure competitiveness in the international market.

The additional grant for BIGM is to construct new facilities and to procure equipment for the training of senior administrative officials and for policy research at BIGM, for which additional cost is incurred due to the price escalation affected by difficult global conditions.

In order to promote sustainable development of Bangladesh in the future, it is essential to strengthen the policy formulation and execution capacity of senior administrative officials.

BIGM is a higher education and research institute, and offers master’s programs in the public sector to people from diverse backgrounds, including the private sector as well as the public officials.

“It gives me pleasure to sign both of these 2 projects, which are important supports for Bangladesh to develop world-class human resources. In this regard, these are particularly essential toward graduation from the least developed countries (LDC) status in 2026 and to become a developed country in 2041.” said Ambassador Iwama.