2016年CRI Belt Road Initiative opens new opportunities for Bangladesh

Since the establishment of their diplomatic ties in 1975, China and Bangladesh have maintained healthy relations and seen their cultural and economic cooperation develop smoothly 1.

As the Belt and Road Initiative proceeds, the bilateral 2 cooperation has gained new momentum 3.

The two sides have inked deals for construction projects such as the Padma Bridge Rail Link and the Dhaka-Sylhet highway, reshaping Bangladesh's transportation network in connection with capital Dhaka.

China's advanced information technology is also expected to help transform Bangladesh into a digital country by 2021.

Mozaffar Molla is studying at Beijing Forestry 4 University.

He says that China's support is instrumental to help his country fulfill 5 the national goal as well as cultivate ICT talents.

"The name of the project is 'Information Technology Village'. Our Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina announced that she will make our country as digital before the year of 2021. But I think that is impossible to complete without help from country who is specialists about ICT. ICT village project will collect the brilliant students who are studying in this field and prepare them as ICT experts."

Last year, direct investment China made in Bangladesh reached 57 million USD. Although it's only 10% of that made by the US, Bangladesh's biggest foreign investor 6, many believe the visit by President Xi Jinping may change the situation significantly.

Alam Khan, commercial counselor 7 at the Bangladeshi Embassy in Beijing, believes unique advantages make his country attractive enough for international investors 8.

"Bangladesh has abundant supply of disciplined and easily retrievable 9 labor 10 force. At the same time Bangladesh offers a very attractive incentive 11 for the foreign investors. Besides Bangladesh has plans of establishing more than 100 economic zones for the investors. We specially 12 designated one for the countries like China. Because of the private facilities, Chinese investors can enjoy the duty free access of more than 5054 Bangladesh products to Chinese market, which is actually very beneficial for the Chinese investors in Bangladesh."

Khan went on to say that the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative has opened up numerous opportunities for his country.

"Bangladesh is a very important player under the initiative. There would be more and more people to people contact, cooperation in cultural, educational and economic sectors 13. Bangladesh will attract more Chinese investment, which will help to achieve the goal of becoming the medium income country by 2021, and developed country by 2041. Chinese enterprises will also be benefited by shifting the labor intensive industry to Bangladesh, and this in turn will not only contribute to the economy growth but also provide huge employment opportunities for Bangladeshi citizens."

For CRI, this is Liu Mohan.