Japan is going to withdraw various restrictions including travel alerts for its nationals imposed following the killing of Japanese citizens and militant attack on the Holey Artisan Bakery in Gulshan, said Finance Minister AMA Muhith.

“This was a very good piece of information and a very good thing for our country that Japanese restriction on doing business in Bangladesh is going to be lifted,” the minister said at a press briefing at his office yesterday returning from Japan.

The minister flew to Tokyo on December 7 to highlight security measures the government had taken for foreigners working in the Japan-financed projects in Bangladesh.

During his visit, Muhith held meetings with various high officials including Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso and JICA President Shinichi Kitaoka.

Muhith said his Japanese counterpart told him that his government had decided to lift the travel alert issued for Japanese nationals about visiting Bangladesh.

He added that from now on there would be no restrictions, but a little time would be needed to make the decision effective.

Muhith further said a travel alert was in force since 2015 which meant the Japanese citizens were advised not to visit Bangladesh and if they did, they had to stay cautious.

After the Holey Artisan attack on July 1 restrictions were imposed on Japanese officials' visit to Dhaka. Since then all negotiations with Bangladesh were held in a third country, like Singapore or Thailand.

Muhith said the Bangladesh officials of various projects went to those countries for signing agreements or for negotiations.

Since the restriction, Japanese officials did not visit Bangladesh, but some private officials visited, Muhith said.

“Except the JICA volunteers, other experts are working in various projects in Bangladesh,” a diplomat at the Japanese embassy said when he was contacted after the finance minister's information about the Japan government's decision.

ERD Secretary Mohammad Mejbahuddin said many foreigners had left Bangladesh or were in panic after the Holey Artisan attack on July 1.

He added they were fully satisfied with various measures taken by the government.  Activities in no project had stopped and everything was running smoothly, he added.

During his Japan visit, the finance minister was accompanied by Additional Secretary to the Home Ministry Mostafa Kamal Uddin.

The home ministry official said they had been providing adequate security to all foreigners. Border Guard Bangladesh, police and Coast Guard personnel were deployed whenever the situation required.

Bangladesh now receives the highest amount of foreign aid from Japan among the bilateral donor countries at the very low interest of 0.01 percent.

The rate is the lowest among all multilateral and bilateral lenders, with a repayment period of 50 years including a grace period of 10 years.

Currently, Japan commits about $700 million each year as development assistance.

The country has already made commitments to finance a number of large infrastructure projects in Bangladesh.

The projects include Matarbari coal-fired power project, several bridge and power projects, metro rail and Dhaka mass rapid transit development project, which means the annual commitment of Japan will exceed $1 billion in the next couple of years.

Many foreign consultants and officials are still afraid of working or moving freely in Bangladesh, which resulted in slow progress of the projects, sources said.