China to expand BR projects in Bangladesh
Stands ready to participate in Teesta project, says envoy
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China, currently engaged in an infrastructure development project, on Wednesday, signalled its desire to expand collaboration into the digital, marine and green economies and to widen medical visas and scholarship quotas for Bangladeshi citizens.
“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 Chinese Ambassador in Dhaka, Yao Wen, said while addressing the opening ceremony of the training programmes for Bangladeshi officials organised by the China Aid in the city.
He said China stands ready to participate in the Teesta River Comprehensive Management and Restoration Project, and China 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.
Ms. Mirana Mahrukh, Additional Secretary, Wing Chief of ERD, Ministry of Finance, and Mr. Mohammed Nore-Alam, Director General, East Asia and Pacific Wing, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, also spoke on the event.
As previously noted, this year, China will organise 23 bilateral seminars and 30 multilateral seminars, training over 500 Bangladeshi participants.
These seminars will cover areas such as smart governance and information technology, new energy, finance, transportation, agriculture, tourism, and education.
Mr Wen said, Economic and trade cooperation and people-to-people exchanges serve as cornerstones of our comprehensive cooperation. ”The meeting between Bangladesh Chief Advisor 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,” he noted.
“This visit injected new momentum into the high-quality Belt and Road cooperation between the two countries. It has become a broad consensus in 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 ‘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’.
“China stands ready to work with Bangladesh and all nations to advance economic globalisation towards greater openness and inclusiveness with balanced benefits so as to build a fair world of common development,” he added.