President urges Japan to include Lanka in Bay of Bengal partnership; seeks membership in RCEP

President Ranil Wickremesinghe has urged Japan to extend its tripartite partnership with India and Bangladesh to improve the economies of the Bay of Bengal region, including the southern states of India and Sri Lanka.

He made this request while on a threeday visit to Tokyo this week. The President also urged Japan to consider Sri Lanka's membership to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, a free trade agreement among 15 Asia-Pacific nations begun last year.

During official and informal talks with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki, President Wickremesinghe made the pitch for Sri Lanka to win back Japan's economic support which had been lost due to the cancellation of several of its projects by the Gotabaya Rajapaksa Government, one of the biggest being the Light Rail (LRT) project that was to ease traffic congestion between Colombo Fort and Malabe in Greater Colombo.

This was a project that went successfully thereafter to Bangladesh which has struck a strong tie-up with Japan. Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina visited Japan in April while Sri Lanka's high-level consultation with Tokyo dropped significantly in recent years.

Japan was once Sri Lanka’s major single aid donor.

In an official statement issued last month, Japan referred to Prime Minister Kishida's desire to create synergies by linking cooperation under the Bay of Bengal Industrial Growth Belt (BIG-B) initiative with the development of the North East region of India.

Sri Lanka declaring itself bankrupt last year has now created a further hurdle in getting Japan back on track for economic partnership and assistance. At a private dinner, President Wickremesinghe met with Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) Governor Hayashi Nobumitsu and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) President Tanaka Akihiko. He also met business leaders at the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) hall.

The underlying message from these meetings appeared to be that Japanese business was willing

to get back to Sri Lanka, but only after the debt restructuring issues had been cleared. President Wickremesinghe had said this would be sorted out later this year.

During a 30-minute round of talks that involved senior Japanese Treasury officials, Finance Minister Suzuki assured Japan would be on top of the debt restructuring negotiations through the Paris Club and with the overview of the IMF.

The resumption of the LRT project would need to wait for the debt restructuring negotiations to be concluded,

as it is classified as a 'cancelled' project, while other 'pending' projects that were stalled since Sri Lanka declared itself bankrupt will await a signal from the Japanese Government to automatically kick-start again after the Japanese yen loans are resolved.

Sri Lanka's entry to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership would depend on the 15 member states, which include all the ASEAN countries, plus China, Australia, and New Zealand, accepting it. The region covers 30 percent of the world's population

and 30 percent of the global GDP.

During the packed interactions with Japanese political and business leaders, President Wickremesinghe met with Digital Technology Minister Kono Taro for Sri Lanka to hook on to Japan's advanced IT developments. He was also able to touch base with Japan’s four former Prime Ministers -Fukuda Yasuo, Yoshihide Suga, Aso Taro and Hatoyama Yukio.

These ex-prime ministers lead separate factions in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and other parties

and have considerable influence with members of parliament.

When Sri Lanka comes up for discussion at the Finance and Foreign Affairs committees in the Japanese Diet (Parliament) to include and approve project loans and aid for Sri Lanka in the next budget, their support becomes invaluable.

President Wickremesinghe and Ms. Wickremesinghe made a personal call on Ms. Akie Abe, widow of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was assassinated during a political campaign in 2022.