China to provide Bangladesh 1000 firefighting motorcycles

China will provide Bangladesh with 1000 firefighting motorcycles under a grants project, a senior official has said.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 22 August 2016, 03:26 PM
Updated : 22 August 2016, 03:28 PM

The 14th session of the Bangladesh-China Joint Commission (JEC) meeting on Monday was told about it.

The meeting focused on issues related to trade, investment, economic assistance and mutual cooperation.

Economic Relations Division Secretary Mohammad Mejbahuddin, who led the Bangladesh side in the meeting, told journalists that two “letters of exchange” have been signed on the motorcycles.

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 authorities of both sides would sign separate agreements later.

Vice-Minister for Commerce Goa Yan led the Chinese team in the meeting.

However, only the Bangladesh side briefed the media.

The ERD secretary said the signing of papers on the fire bikes was one of the “main outcomes” of the biennial JEC meeting.

Those motorcycles would be “highly useful” for fighting fire in crowded Dhaka as they can move quickly within narrow lanes, Mejbahuddin said.

He also praised Chinese support in Bangladesh and said their grants helped it to buy farming as well as hospital equipment.

“Now we are getting support for fire-fighting. More will come in the coming days.”

The ERD official said Bangladesh also implemented big projects with Chinese grants including China-Bangladesh Friendship Bridges. The eighth of such bridge is now being built.

The JEC discusses ways for improving trade and investment and addressing concerns of Chinese corporations with Bangladesh.

China also showed interest to invest in Bangladesh, he said.

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