China to expand BD rail projects, ready for Teesta project

Currently engaged in major infrastructure-development projects in Bangladesh, China signals its readiness to expand collaboration into digital, marine and green economies, and widen medical visas and scholarship quotas for Bangladeshi citizens.

Also, China stands ready to participate in the Teesta River Comprehensive Management and Restoration Project, Chinese Ambassador in Dhaka Yao Wen said Wednesday while rolling out their latest cooperation outlook.

And Beijing will continue to promote high-quality Belt and Road cooperation and explore further cooperation in the fields of digital economy, green economy, marine economy, infrastructure, and water conservancy.

"China will further deepen comprehensive reforms and expand high-level opening-up, bringing new opportunities for development to Bangladesh and countries around the world," the ambassador told his audience at the opening ceremony of training programmes arranged for Bangladeshi officials by China Aid in Dhaka.

Ms. Mirana Mahrukh, Additional Secretary, Wing Chief of ERD, the Ministry of Finance, and Mr. Mohammed Nore-Alam, Director-General at the East Asia and Pacific Wing of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, also spoke at the event.

As previously noted, this year, China will organise 23 bilateral seminars and 30 multilateral seminars, training over 500 Bangladeshi participants to equip them with the know-how to advance interaction on modern-day development front. These seminars will cover areas such as smart governance and information technology, new energy, finance, transportation, agriculture, tourism, and education.

Mr Wen notes economic and trade cooperation and people-to-people exchanges serve as cornerstones of comprehensive cooperation.

"The meeting between Bangladesh Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus and Chinese President Xi Jinping held in Beijing last month marked a new phase of development in China-Bangladesh relations and elevated the 'Comprehensive Strategic Cooperative Partnership' between the two countries to an unprecedented height," the diplomat the function.

"This visit injected new momentum into the high-quality Belt and Road cooperation between the two countries. It has become a broad consensus in the Bangladeshi society that China is the most trustworthy and reliable development partner," he said.

The Chinese Ambassador said the recent tariff imposed by the Trump administration of the United States "severely infringes upon the legitimate rights and interests of all countries, severely violates WTO rules, severely undermines the rules-based multilateral trading system, and severely disrupts the global economic order".

In this context, "China stands ready to work with Bangladesh and all nations to advance economic globalization towards greater openness and inclusiveness with balanced benefits, so as to build a fair world of common development."

mirmostafiz@yahoo.com