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Global Coordinator: Dr. Nazrul Islam
Message for BENJapan:
Dear BEN-Japan members and other participants of the symposium!
I am very happy to know that BEN-Japan is organizing its debut event in the form of the Symposium on “Environmental Issues of Bangladesh and Japan” to held on September 3, 2009 at Kitakyushu International Association (KIA) premises in Yahata, Kitakyushu. I wish the event success and hope that it will help to raise awareness about environmental problems of Bangladesh, highlight lessons that Bangladesh can learn from Japan’s experience of dealing with environmental problems, and give an organizational impetus to formation of BEN-Japan.
I feel considerable personal attachment to these happy developments, because I had the opportunity of living and working in Kitakyushu during 2004-2006, when I also met Md. Atiqur Rahman Ahad, who has taken the initiative to organize the symposium.
Since its formation in 1998 in the USA, BEN has expanded to other parts of the world, including Australia. It is very appropriate that BEN should now expand to Japan.
Japan has been one of Bangladesh’s consistent international friends, being its largest bilateral donor, in particular helping in the financing of the Jamuna bridge, the largest infrastructure project of the country. In recent years, Japan has increased opportunities for higher education and training for Bangladesh citizens so that Japan has become an important destination of Bangladeshi students.
In addition, as an Asian country with large population relative to the size of inhabitable area (most of Japan being mountainous), the developmental and environmental experience of Japan is very relevant for Bangladesh. Japan has developed a relatively energy efficient economy with very compact urbanization based on public transportation. Japan also has the record of bringing down the pollution level at a very fast rate. As Bangladesh industrializes, urbanizes, and confronts environmental problems, she can therefore learn a lot from the experience of Japan.
Japan has also set up the largest bilateral climate change assistance fund, named Cool Earth Partnership, aimed at providing $10 billion in the next 5 years. Bangladesh, being the worst climate change affected country should be an ideal candidate to receive a significant part of this fund.
All in all, cooperation with Japan, -- its scholars, environmental activists, public, literary and cultural figures, and the government, -- is very important for Bangladesh, and I hope that BEN-Japan will play an important role in expanding and strengthening this cooperation. I thank all our Japanese friends, in particular Prof. Hiroyuki Miyake, Mr. Kenji Kurokawa, and others, whose help and cooperation have been instrumental in organizing this symposium.
I hope that in the coming days, BEN-Japan will expand among Bangladeshis studying and living in Japan, and NRBs in Japan will become another important contingent of BEN helping their country to deal with the important environmental and climate change challenges.
Once again, congratulations to you all and wish you a successful event!
Dr. Nazrul Islam
Global Coordinator, BEN, USA