Gains from President Xi’s visit
It is truly a blessing for us that Bangladesh’s location off the Bay of Bengal and its vast and promising work-force are attracting nations like China and India to elevate relationships with us.
The Chinese president has signed 27 deals and a MoU promising USD 24.45 billion for 34 projects and programmes, especially in infrastructure like the Padma Bridge rail link, the power plant in Payra, and the Karnaphuli Tunnel. This is the largest financial bilateral assistance from a single country for Bangladesh. We thank our Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina as well as the Chinese President for taking such farsighted laudable initiatives with a view to boosting China-Bangladesh relations.
We hope that the trade gap in exports between the countries will be reduced through the present deals; and that China will consider the proposals of Free Trade Agreement and free access of Bangladeshi products to China, proposed by our business leaders.
Finally, we urge our leaders to continue building such rapport with foreign countries while maintaining our national interests.
Juel Rana
University of Dhaka
