Bangladesh and Japan have agreed to sign the economic partnership agreement (EPA) soon to deepen and expand bilateral trade and investment between two nations, the commerce ministry said today.

To take the matter forward, the second round of talks will begin on July 25 in Dhaka and end on July 26, according to the ministry.

"We are working on EPA to take the bilateral relations to new heights. The problems faced by Japanese investors will be solved in the light of EPA. This will accelerate foreign investments and industrial production," said Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi.

He shared the information after a meeting with visiting Economy, Trade, and Industry Minister of Japan Yasutoshi Nishimura.

They met after the daylong summit on "Bangladesh-Japan economic relations for the next 50 years: for the industry upgradation of Bangladesh".

The Japan External Trade Organisation (Jetro), Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (Bida), and the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) jointly organised the summit, which took place at Pan Pacific Sonargaon in Dhaka this afternoon.

In April this year, Dhaka and Tokyo signed a memorandum of understanding on the proposed EPA during the visit of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to Japan.

Both the countries aim to sign the EPA by the end of 2025 or early 2026 when Bangladesh is expected to graduate to become a developing country.

Bangladesh is showing interest to sign trade agreements with its major partners in order to retain duty-free export benefits after graduating from the group of the least-developed countries (LDCs) in 2026.

Munshi said they discussed the continuation of zero-duty entry of Bangladeshi products to Japan in the post-LDC era.

At the meeting, Japan also expressed interest to invest in mega projects of Bangladesh, said Munshi.

He said Japan is already investing in mega projects here and showed interest to invest more.

At the meeting, they also stressed the need for exploring potential areas of bilateral investment.