Warm welcome to Xi Jinping

We warmly welcome the visit by Chinese president to Bangladesh, the first by a Chinese head of state in 30 years. This is a significant step forward in bilateral relations between the two countries. We believe that his visit to the country is a vindication of Bangladesh's rising status as a rising economic power in the region. It is our belief that this crucial visit will pave the way for significant investments in transport, power, information technology, manufacturing and our infrastructure projects. The government has already earmarked one special economic zone for future Chinese investments and it is hoped that Bangladesh will be given special consideration in relocation of Chinese manufacturing base, particularly readymade garments.

Bangladesh hopes to get billions of dollars in Chinese credit and the amount could be to the tune of USD 23 billion. The visit has already been hailed as a "milestone" in bilateral relations and we look forward to a memorandum of understanding between our two countries whereby China becomes a partner in all important spheres of our development. Some of the big projects Dhaka will be eyeing to get financial commitments from China will be the Padma bridge rail link, Karnaphuli tunnel, Sitakunda – Cox's Bazar marine drive expressway, the 4-lane Dhaka-Sylhet highway. All these are multi-billion dollar projects and availing low interest credit will certainly be on the agenda. 

In the recent past China has invested huge amounts in various parts of the world, including in our region. We would like to see China provide equal or more investment in Bangladesh and help us to overcome the difficult development challenges that we still face.