In response to Bangladesh’s request, the Japanese government has decided to increase the number of JDS (Japanese Grant Aid for Human Resource Development Scholarship) fellows from 15 to 25, reports UNB. In May 2014, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina met her Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe in Japan and requested to increase the number of JDS fellows from Bangladesh. A signing ceremony of JDS was held at Economic Relations Division (ERD) of Ministry of Finance yesterday, said a press release. Takeshi Matsunaga, Chargé d’ Affaires ad interim, the Embassy of Japan and Mohammad Mejbahuddin, Senior Secretary of ERD signed the Exchange of Notes representing respective governments. Mikio Hataeda, Chief Representative of JICA Bangladesh Office, also attended the ceremony and signed the Grant Agreement for the project. Since 2002, Japan has been providing academic opportunities for Bangladesh government and Bangladesh Bank officials to study in various fields such as public administration, economic planning, legal capacity, urban/rural planning, and public finance and investment policy at 7 different Japanese universities.