Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe begins tour of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka

Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe flew to Bangladesh today on a two-stop tour of South Asia, in a bid to expand Tokyo's interests in a region where it has ceded influence to China, Reuters reported.

Abe would be the first Japanese prime minister to visit Bangladesh in 14 years and would tomorrow become the first to travel to Sri Lanka in nearly a quarter of a century.

''I came here with 22 top leaders of business, ranging from infrastructure to safe water, with a strong hope of doing business in Bangladesh,'' Abe told a forum in Dhaka attended by over 100 executives from both countries.

According to commentators, Asia's great-powers are stepping up diplomacy following the rise to power of Indian nationalist leader Narendra Modi, who made his intent to play an active role on the world stage clear by inviting regional leaders to his inauguration in May.

Abe's Bangladesh visit follows Modi's Japan visit that yielded a Japanese pledge to invest $34 billion in India and launched a ''special, strategic global partnership'' to strengthen security cooperation.

The Japanese premier's visit comes ahead of the scheduled visit of Chinese president Xi Jinping, to India and Sri Lanka later this month.

Speaking to media persons before he left Tokyo, Abe described Bangladesh and Sri Lanka as "countries with a growing influence in economic and political domains."

Abe's visits to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are aimed at enhancing Japan's presence in South Asia, The Asahi Shimbun reported.

During his meeting with Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa, Abe would offer coast guard cutters to help Sri Lanka strengthen its maritime patrol activities.

He is expected to announce support for infrastructure construction projects, such as ports and electric power generation during his meeting with Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina.

Both Japan and Bangladesh had announced plans to run for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council in the election slated for October 2015. However, during her Japan visit in May, Hasina indicated that Bangladesh would withdraw from the race. Abe is expected to ask for the cooperation of Bangladesh in the UN election.

According to the report, the emphasis on the business contingents highlights Abe's desire to take advantage of economic activity abroad to recover economic growth for Japan as part of his Abenomics strategy.

Abe had said last year that Japan had succeeded in winning infrastructure orders totaling 9 trillion yen, triple the figure for the previous year.