The PM will leave for Tokyo tomorrow at the invitation of her Japanese counterpart Junichiro Koizumi.

"I would expect that the issue of UN reform will certainly come up as one of the main agenda items of the talks between Prime Minister Koizumi and Prime Minister Khaleda," said Hatsuhisa Takashima, press secretary for Press and Public Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, at a press briefing in Tokyo yesterday.

Asked if Japan would again request Bangladesh to be a joint sponsor of the draft proposal to the UN on behalf of the Group of Four (G4) countries, Takashima said UN reform is currently the number one foreign affairs issue so far as Japan is concerned. Japan along with other members of the G4 is promoting the idea of expanding the Security Council-- both its permanent members and non-permanent members.

On the issues to be focused at the Japan-Bangladesh summit, Takashima said, "We expect that UN reform would be one of the agenda items."

Japan's economic assistance to Bangladesh would certainly come up, he said. "We expect that training of Bangladeshi workers in Japan will also be one of the agenda items to be discussed."

Moreover, there will be a wide range of discussions including the international situation, especially the situation in southwest Asia,

The press secretary mentioned that Japan has decided to provide a grant assistance of up to 360 million yen or $3.4 million to Bangladesh for the Project for Human Resources Development Scholarship.

Responding to a question on the significance of the visit of Khaleda, Takashima said, "We consider this visit as very important because although the relations between our two countries are very good, we would like to promote these friendly relations further and we would like to see further collaboration between Bangladesh and Japan in various areas including closer economic ties and political ties."

During her visit, Khaleda will be received in audience by the Emperor of Japan.

"The government of Japan sincerely welcomes the visit of the prime minister, which will further strengthen the friendly relations between Japan and Bangladesh," Takashima said.