Bangladesh-Japan direct flight to start this year: PM Hasina

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said direct flights between Bangladesh and Japan will be launched this year.

"We are happy to announce that the Dhaka-Narita direct flight is going to operate within this year," she said in a joint statement after signing eight instruments with Japan following bilateral talks with her Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida at the Prime Minister's Office. 

"Our two sides have signed - agreements and memorandums which will further institutionalise our future cooperation in the areas of agriculture, customs matters, defense, ICT and cyber-security, industrial upgrading, intellectual property, ship recycling and metro rail," she said.

Sheikh Hasina is visiting Japan after three years since she last visited in the country 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic broke out.

Earlier, the Bangladesh premier arrived in the Haneda International Airport in Tokyo around 4:45pm local time Tuesday (25 April) as she left Dhaka on a 15-day official tour to Japan, the USA and the UK yesterday.

Japan welcomed the Bangladesh premier by rolling out the red carpet and also gave her the static guard of honour at the airport.