China wants to invest in Bangladesh, security not a concern: ERD secretary

Dhaka has not been given an impression of security concerns by Beijing at the Joint Economic Commission (JEC) meeting, rather China has showed keen interest to invest in Bangladesh, an official says.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 22 August 2016, 03:01 PM
Updated : 22 August 2016, 04:11 PM

“We did not notice any concern. They have no concern,” Economic Relations Division Secretary Mohammad Mejbahuddin, who led the Bangladesh side at the meeting on Monday, said at a press briefing.

Chinese Vice-Minister for Commerce Goa Yan led a delegation at the 14th session of the JEC that focused on issues related to trade, investment, economic assistance and mutual cooperation. Yan, however, did not face the media.

This year, the biennial meeting took place after the July 1 terrorist attack after which Western countries issued travel warnings and businesses feared setback.

Mejbahuddin, however, said China told them that they would “increase” their investments in Bangladesh.

He said China also “agreed in principle” to give duty-free market access to 17 more Bangladeshi products to narrow down the two-way trade gap which is heavily tilted towards it.

Bangladesh-China bonhomie touched a new height in 2014 following Beijing’s backing to the much-talked-about Jan 5 elections which was criticised by the US and its allies.

Following re-election, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina visited the Communist state in June and there, Beijing’s leadership promised to support Bangladesh in massive infrastructure projects.

China has also provided assistance to a number of projects related to Bangladesh's economic and social progress, including the seven China-Bangladesh Friendship Bridges and Bangabandhu International Conference Center.

Secretary Mejbahuddin said the JEC meeting discussed the full range of bilateral relations to strengthen cooperation. The objective was to explore the possibility of enhancing cooperation in the areas of bilateral trade, economic and investment.

He said Bangladesh particularly stressed on getting Chinese investment.

“They want to come as an investor to build their own company here,” he said.

Apart from the dedicated Chinese economic zone in Chittagong’s Anwara, Dhaka also invited Beijing to invest in the new 100 special economic zones selected by the prime minister for the foreign investors.

The secretary said the Chinese side cited land acquisition and energy supply as the problems in investing in Bangladesh.

“We assured them of the government’s plan to give one-stop service in the new economic zones.”

He said the meeting also discussed ways to increase Bangladesh’s exports to China as the trade gap is over $7 billion.

China currently provides duty-free market access to 4,700 products, but Bangladesh’s businesses say the list does not include their products of choice.

The ERD secretary said China agreed on principle to give duty-free access to 17 products including tobacco, garment items such as silk waste, synthetic fibre, short boots, some leather products and lead-acid battery that Bangladesh can export.

He said Bangladesh also sought the easing of business visa.

China showed interest to invest in the apparel zone on which a MoU was signed with the BGMEA during the prime minister’s visit to Beijing.

“They are interested in it. They want to invest outside their country, so Bangladesh can be a good place. They want to be a major investment partner (in garments) for Bangladesh,” he said.

Bangladesh praised the Chinese support and said their grants helped it from building major infrastructure to buying farming as well as hospital equipment.

He said China would provide 1000 ‘water mist fire motorcycles’ fitted with modern technologies and necessary tools for the modernisation of Bangladesh’s Fire Service and Civil Defence.

The ERD secretary described it as an “outcome” of the meeting and said they had signed two “letters of exchange” to that end.

The meeting decided to review the progress of all the projects every three months with the embassy’s economic counsellor in Dhaka since the JEC is being held two years apart.