Chinese President Xi Jinping’s upcoming visit to Bangladesh is a diplomatic boost that heralds a new era in relations between the two countries, a Bangladeshi minister said.
Information Minister Hasanul Huq Inu in an interview to Xinhua news agency yesterday said, “President Xi Jinping’s visit to Bangladesh will take the deep cordial relations between Bangladesh and China to a new greater height.”
Xi will be visiting Dhaka this week at the invitation of Bangladesh President Abdul Hamid.
“This upcoming visit marks the strong bondage between the two nations as well as paves the way for future growth of our ties,” said Inu, who is also president of the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD), a partner of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s ruling grand alliance.
He said the relations and engagements between Bangladesh and China are enormous.
“Our two nations support each other on the principles of peace, stability, sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual trust and respect, mutual interest and equitable sharing of mutual benefits,” Inu said.
“We also work closely for developing a quadrilateral economic space between Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar – popularly known as BCIM-EC (Economic Corridor). Definitely co-ordinated efforts of Bangladesh and China on local and international development issues of mutual interest will result in great outcomes,” Inu added.
The minister said over the last eight years, Bangladesh has made remarkable progress in economic growth, women’s advancement and empowerment, education and health, and other areas of human development, including laying out communication, production and trading architectures.
“To keep the development on track, we look forward to Chinese co-operation in project financing and low-cost investment, technology, upgrading management skills, market access, defence, agriculture, industry, communication, water resources management and media modernisation,” Inu said.
At this very moment, he said Chinese co-operation in this sector will be extremely significant. “Infrastructure building and ICT adoption are the two most prominent sectors where we seek Chinese co-operation in media.”
Meanwhile, Japan will soon send a delegation soon to Bangladesh to get a security update, said a Japanese parliamentary vice minister for foreign affairs.
Kiyoshi Odawara in a meeting with his Bangladesh counterpart Shahriar Alam in Bangkok, however, assured that Tokyo would continue to remain a ‘strong development partner’ of Dhaka.
The meeting took place on the sidelines of the Asia Co-operation Dialogue (ACD) that ended on Monday in Bangkok, the foreign ministry said in Dhaka yesterday.
The summit endorsed Bangladesh’s proposal to be a ‘co-prime mover’ in the working groups on connectivity and food, water and energy security pillars under the ACD Vision for Asia Co-operation 2030.
The state minister also met Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Ig Murglov on the sidelines.
During his meeting with the Japanese vice-minister, he apprised him of the ‘stringent’ security measures being taken by the Bangladesh government to ensure safety of foreign nationals.
Seven JICA consultants were among the victims of the July 1 terrorist attack at an upscale cafe in Dhaka’s Gulshan.
The government has strengthened the security measures in and around the diplomatic zone after the attack in Holey Artisan Bakery.
Shahriar assured Odawara that the government is ‘fully prepared to receive the Japanese delegation and apprise (them} of the security situation.’
The state minister as a leader of Bangladesh delegation told the ACD meeting that working closely with all neighbours is a ‘foreign policy goal’ of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
He called for not only physical connectivity but also connectivity of people, culture and idea, connectivity of trade, investment, technology, enterprises and labour force to secure an inclusive growth and sustainable development in Asia.
As the summit endorsed Bangladesh in different working groups, the state minister offered to host the first working group meeting on connectivity in Dhaka.