Prime Minister Tarique Rahman has attended a dinner hosted by Yohei Sasakawa, Honorary Chairman of The Nippon Foundation and the Sasakawa Peace Foundation.

The dinner was held at the Hanagasumi Restaurant at Meiji Kinenkan in Tokyo on Monday.

The Prime Minister’s wife, Dr Zubaida Rahman, Finance and Planning Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury, Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister M Rashiduzzaman Millat, Prime Minister’s Adviser on Finance and Planning Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir, State Minister for Foreign Affairs-1 Humayun Kabir, State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Anindya Islam Amit, Prime Minister’s Special Assistant for Overseas Employment in the Asia-Pacific region Dr Md Shakirul Islam Khan, and Prime Minister’s Protocol Officer-2 Kamrul Islam were among those present.

Takashi Arikawa, Executive Director of The Nippon Foundation, and senior officials of the organisation also attended the dinner.

During the dinner, Prime Minister Tarique Rahman recalled his meeting with Sasakawa in Dhaka last September. He thanked Sasakawa for his longstanding contributions to humanitarian assistance, education and public health in Bangladesh.

They also discussed potential cooperation in establishing a vaccine manufacturing facility in Bangladesh to help control infectious diseases.

Sasakawa paid a visit to Bangladesh last September, during which he paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister Tarique Rahman.