On August 31, 2004, Prof. Monirul Hoque and Prof. Dr. Mahfuzul Huq, two members of the UGC visited JSPS to hold a joint staff meeting with Ms. Yuko Furukawa, Director of the International Program Department, Mr. Hiromichi Endo, Head of the Asian Program Division and other members of his division.

At the meeting, JSPS explained the state of the ongoing program implementation and proposed a new program, replacing the present scientist exchange program. UGC agreed to this proposal and the program is expected to be implemented as a Joint Research Program. It was also confirmed that JSPS and UGC also agreed to make a new Memorandum of Understanding to launch this new program in fiscal 2005.

Prior to the meeting, two members of the UGC paid a courtesy visit to the president of JSPS, Prof. Ono, exchanging views on recent scientific trends in Bangladesh. The following day, they visited Osaka University and Hiroshima University.