China seeks more transactions with BD using ‘own currencies’: Envoy

Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Yao Wen has said his country wants to conduct more transactions with Bangladesh using Chinese or Bangladeshi currencies instead of the US dollar amid the ongoing dollar rate fluctuation.

“Now it’s a worldwide problem. This is the fluctuation of the dollar rate because of the financial and monetary policy of the US. So, the global south, the developing countries as well as China also are facing the same problem. This is something where China wishes to work with Bangladesh,” he said.

Wen also said, “Maybe one of the ways is to use our own currencies. We approached and are engaging with Bangladesh to see what we can do together to use more of our own currencies instead of the US dollar,” he added.

The Chinese ambassador said this to reporters after a meeting with Planning Minister Major General (Retd) Abdus Salam at the latter’s office in the capital’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar on Tuesday.

He said that during the meeting, they discussed the possible areas of cooperation between the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) of China and the Bangladesh Planning Commission.

“China has already the 14th Five-Year Plan while Bangladesh is having its 8th Five-Year Plan. So, we can see we’ve great potentials to cooperate and work on this area...we can share experiences and can cooperate on this Five-Year Plan,” he added.

Noting that the NDRC of China and the Bangladesh Planning Commission are almost similar in nature, Wen said, “I believe there is enormous potential to work on this area regarding macro economy and development cooperation. We discussed a lot; we’ll follow up on what we’ve discussed,” he added.

The planning minister said that China has shown interest in discussing Bangladesh’s five-year plan, adding that China has a strong relationship with Bangladesh and has assisted in the implementation of the country’s five-year plans.

Answering a question, he assured that minor issues would be resolved through discussion regarding the disbursement of promised funds from China.