Foreign and Military Affairs
Beijing to help Dhaka better its infrastructure
By Qin Jize (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-03-19 07:45
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BEIJiNG: China on Thursday promised to offer greater support to Bangladesh for infrastructure development, securing a closer and stronger cooperative partnership between the two countries.
Premier Wen Jiabao and his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina on Thursday witnessed the signing of four deals, including favorable loans and Chinese investment in Bangladesh's oil and gas fields, in the Great Hall of the People.
Wen said China encourages and supports capable and credible enterprises to invest in Bangladesh in the fields of transportation, telecommunication and energy.
Accompanied by an array of top ministers and key officials, Hasina is currently in China to seek Chinese economic assistance, mainly for infrastructure development and various projects crucial to push forward the nation's economy.
Those projects include construction of the seventh Bangladesh-China Friendship Bridge, Chittagong-Myanmar-Kunming Highway and a Bangladesh-China exhibition center.
Expressing deep appreciation to China and the Chinese people, Hasina said Dhaka was willing to develop closer ties with Beijing and vowed to step up cooperation in the agricultural and tourism sectors.
China is currently Bangladesh's biggest trade partner but with the balance heavily in favor of Beijing. Reports cited figures from Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics that a $3.8 billion trade gap existed between China and Bangladesh as of June 2009.
As Hasina will attend a China-Bangladesh trade forum on Friday, it is widely believed that narrowing the trade gap, reducing tariff rates and encouraging large-scale investment and joint ventures in various sectors will be high on the prime minister's agenda.
She will meet President Hu Jintao and top legislator Wu Bangguo on Friday before flying to Kunming, capital of Southwest China's Yunnan province to spend the weekend.
She is expected to inspect the section of the road and railway links from Kunming to Chittagong.
