The Bangladesh government has opened talks with Japan and Norway to secure funding to help its ship recycling yards improve safety and environmental standards.

The call for foreign aid was revealed by Mizanur Rahman, deputy secretary of the Bangladesh Ministry of Industries, at the TradeWinds Ship Recycling Forum in London this week.

Help needed

Rahman told the forum that Bangladesh needs assistance to help it achieve its goal of raising standards at domestic recycling yards to a level that would allow it to ratify the Hong Kong Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships by 2023.