Dhaka, Dec. 22 -- Bangladesh and Japan have finalised the draft of an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), with the deal set to be signed next month, Commerce Adviser Sk Bashir Uddin said on Monday.

"I talked to the Japanese Foreign Minister over the phone today. The EPA will be signed next month," he said at a press conference on Bangladesh-Japan EPA negotiations at the Secretariat.

.He said Bangladesh has agreed to open 97 sub-sectors to Japan under the agreement while Japan has decided to open 120 sub-sectors to Bangladesh in four modes of services.

Bashir Uddin said the EPA draft was finalised through intensive negotiations with Japan.

He said this would be Bangladesh's first-ever economic partnership agreement with any country w...