Summit Corporation Limited (Summit), a subsidiary company of Summit Power International Limited and JERA Asia Pte Ltd (JERA Asia), a subsidiary company of JERA Co. Inc. (JERA) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to boost energy supply chain in Bangladesh.
The MoU was signed in the presence of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at a ceremony held in Tokyo on Thursday. Sheikh Hasina is now on a four-day state visit to Japan.
The ceremony was also attended by Bangladesh PM's Adviser on Private Industry and Investment Salman F Rahman, Foreign Minister A K Abdul Momen, ICT State Minister Zunaid Ahmed Palak, BSEC Chairman Prof Shibli Rubayat Ul Islam, Chairman, BIDA Executive Chairman Lokman Hossain Miah, Japanese officials -Iwama Kiminori, Japanese Ambassador to Bangladesh and Norihiko Ishiguro, Chairman of JETRO as well as Muhammed Aziz Khan, Founder Chairman of Summit Group and Faisal Khan, Additional Managing Director of Summit Corporation.
The MoU was signed by Toshiro Kudama, CEO of JERA Asia, and Ayesha Aziz Khan, Director of Summit Corporation and MD and CEO of Summit Power International. Valued around $ 2 billion, the objective of the MoU is to collaborate in providing cost effective and reliable long-term Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and other fuels supply in addition to developing both on-shore and off-shore regasification and storage infrastructure for Bangladesh.
Toshiro Kudama said: "The signing of the MoU is a significant first step towards achieving the objective. JERA looks forward to further contributing to Bangladesh's reliable energy supply in collaboration with Summit."
Muhammed Aziz Khan said,: "Like the rest of the world, Bangladesh is also facing energy security concerns as a result of high interest rates, supply-chain shock and market volatility. At Summit, we are offering solutions through the development of much needed LNG storage and supply infrastructure with our partner, JERA."
As Bangladesh approaches the transition to 'developing country' status in 2026, it faces global energy supply challenges. Summit and JERA's collaboration offers Bangladesh an alternative affordable energy supply solution by bringing down the cost of importing essential fuels into Bangladesh. It also dovetails with the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) intent to reduce Bangladesh's balance of payment pressure due to import-intensive climate investments as the recipient of the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF).
Summit is the largest Independent Power Producer (IPP) in Bangladesh, reflecting 17% of the country's total private installed capacity and 7% of total installed capacity. Summit owns and operates a total of 18 power plants in operation or under development, and operates Bangladesh's second Floating Storage and Regasification Unit (FSRU) and LNG import terminal with daily regasification capacity of 500 million cubic feet. Summit accepted investment from JERA in 2019 and welcomed representatives to its Board.
