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Jetro usher new opportunities for local IT firms
Jetro officials at SoftExpo 2008
JAPAN External Trade Organisation (Jetro), whose Bangladesh chapter is known as "Jetro Dhaka", is involved in creating opportunity for the local IT industry so that they can expand their business in the Japanese market and draw more investment in Bangladesh. Jetro is the official trade and investment promotion agency under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of the Government of Japan. Its main mission is to support trade between Japan and other countries with the aim of achieving balanced global trade. Jetro has 73 overseas offices in 54 countries worldwide as well as 36 offices in Japan, including Tokyo and Osaka headquarters. It has been operating in Bangladesh since 1973. Jetro Dhaka has always tried to develop sustainable relationship between Japanese and Bangladeshi companies. But the Bangladesh chapter is also concerned about the potential of local IT industry for which reason this year it brought seven Japanese IT companies at BASIS SoftExpo 2008. "From the software exposition, we have received response from 40 Bangladeshi companies. It surprised us and at the same time drives us to expedite the future collaboration process," Tomohiro Kinomoto, Jetro representative, told StarTech. "Our office is dedicated to providing information about the trade culture in Japan and helping local firms find out the right opportunity. Each month our office on an average receives 110 responses from the local industry. But not all companies qualify to make trade ties with Japanese companies as some are not able to fulfil the criteria. Most Japanese companies require speedy execution which means right time delivery", he added. Regarding language barrier, Kinomoto said Jetro has no language training facility and has no plan to introduce this anytime soon, adding that some local firms offer tuition in Japanese. Business delegates from Japan, who have participated in BASIS SoftExpo 2008, exchanged their views with StarTech. Nobuhiro Hotta, chief executive officer of Dream Cluster Inc, said, "Bangladeshi IT market is expanding day by day. Several Bangladeshi companies are now working with their Japanese counterparts and I believe that it is a positive sign to draw more business from Japan". "We are mainly interested in the potential of Bangladeshi youth. In Japan, near about 7,000 Bangladeshi students are now studying in different disciplines. Many young Bangladeshis have already proved their competency and this scenario inspires us a lot to utilise Bangladeshi talents in our hi-tech business", he said. Takahashi Hidehiro, senior managing director of ABL KLEIN Co Ltd, said, "At this moment, web-based solution and web-content related tasks have huge demand in the Japanese market. If Bangladeshi companies address it seriously, this scope will bring a breakthrough in the Bangladeshi IT industry". Kazuyuki Ono, CFO, Spaceminister Co Ltd, said, "We have received positive response from 40 Bangladeshi companies. In China the cost of labour is increasing day by day and this is equally true for India. So we need a new competitive destination to outsource our activities". According to Jetro Dhaka, more Japanese companies will come to Bangladesh in the coming years. For this, local IT companies require human resource with right technical skills and proficiency in Japanese language to grab this opportunity. Edward Apurba Singha
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