'JICA's support to Bangladesh to continue'

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) reaffirmed its commitment to Bangladesh's development efforts, giving top priority to the safety of its staff and other related personnel. 

"We at JICA will continue giving top priority to the safety of JICA-related personnel and thoroughly assessing the situation on the ground in the places where we do our work. We also remain firmly committed to contributing to the development of Bangladesh," JICA President Shinichi Kitaoka said in a statement on Wednesday. 

In the statement, available on JICA's website, he regretted the killing of seven Japanese people in Gulshan cafe attack that also left another one of this development agency injured by the terrorists. 

All the eight were consultants engaged in survey work for JICA and were participating in a preparatory survey related to an infrastructure project to improve the urban transit situation in Dhaka, where traffic is rapidly increasing. 

"Sadly, these people, who worked hard for the development of Bangladesh, became caught up in this incident. It is impossible to suppress our anger at the criminals who carried out this act of terrorism," the JICA president said. 

He expressed deep condolences at the loss of lives and prayed for the earliest possible recovery of the person who was injured. 

"On behalf of JICA, I would like to offer as much support as possible to all the family members," Kitaoka said. 

He said the people who were killed and injured not only participated in survey work in Bangladesh, together with JICA, they also contributed to the growth of developing countries and were expected to continue doing so. 

"It is a matter of great sorrow to us that these precious comrades were killed or injured," he said. 

Referring to the last October's incident, the JICA president said JICA elevated the safety measures and alerted all JICA-related personnel to the danger following killing of a Japanese man in northwest Bangladesh. 

Besides, he said JICA also warned its personnel again to be extra cautious, particularly during and just after Ramadan. 

"It is quite regrettable that this result came about despite those efforts," he said.

Source: BSS