Bangladesh and Japan have signed the exchange of notes and grant agreements on the project for Human Resource Development Scholarship (JDS) worth up to JPY 446 million or around $5 million. Ito Naoki, Ambassador of Japan to Bangladesh, Fatima Yasmin, Secretary, Economic Relations Division, Ministry of Finance and Hayakawa Yuho, Chief Representative, JICA Bangladesh office representing the respective governments on Thursday. Since 2002 till date, 394 Bangladeshi officials have studied in Japanese universities (Masters and PhD) under the JDS scheme. In response to the strong expectation of the government of Bangladesh to enlarge the scheme, Japan has constantly increased the number of Bangladesh JDS awardees: from 15 a year between 2010 and 2014 to 30 since 2016. The PhD fellows have studied for the first time since the spring of 2018. This year’s 30 JDS fellows will train themselves in different graduate schools in Japan to deepen their disciplines in the area of public administration, economic affairs, legal system and urban planning, public finance and investment policy. It is expected that JDS fellows would play an active roles after the completion of the program in drawing up and implementing social and economic development policies in Bangladesh, said the Japanese Embassy in Dhaka. It is also expected that JDS fellows would help two nations, Japan and Bangladesh, to further mutual understanding and deepen and broaden friendship, said the Embassy.
