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China wants to work with Bangladesh regarding the use of own currencies of both the nations in trade and economic cooperation due to oscillations of US dollar.
"The fluctuation of the dollar rate is now a worldwide problem, which China is also facing. It's something that China wishes to work with Bangladesh."
Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Yao Wen said this while replying to a media query as he called on planning minister Abdus Salam at the Planning Commission office on Tuesday. "Since the dollar exchange rate is a worldwide problem, it may be one of the ways to use our own currencies - yuan and taka - for trade and business," said Mr Wen.
"We approached and are engaging with Bangladesh to see what we can do together to use our own currencies instead of the US dollar." Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Bank (BB) allowed overseas trade transactions in Chinese yuan from September 2022.
The central bank instructed authorised banks in Bangladesh that they could maintain accounts in yuan for overseas trade payments.
Local banks already maintain foreign currency clearing accounts with the BB in US dollar, euro, pound sterling, Canadian dollar, Japanese yen, Swiss franc and Australian dollar currencies. The Chinese envoy told journalists that Beijing also sought to work with the Planning Commission regarding development activities here.
"We have 14th five-year plan while Bangladesh has 8th. In China, we have National Development and Reform Committee, which is similar to Bangladesh's Planning Commission."
"We are finding ways on how both the organisations can work together," concluded Mr Wen.
Meanwhile, Mr Salam said, "… China has a strong relationship with Bangladesh and has assisted in implementing our five-year plans."
When asked why the disbursement of promised funds from China was slow, the minister assured that any minor issues would be resolved through discussion.