Bangladesh, China, India finalise BCIM papers

Bangladesh, China and India have finalised the country papers of the Bangladesh–China– India–Myanmar (BCIM) initiative aimed at greater integration of trade and investment between the four countries, Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque revealed yesterday. He also said that Bangladesh and China have shared their papers with each other. “Myanmar is bit behind in this regard.” The foreign secretary was speaking as chief guest at the concluding session of a seminar titled ‘Bangladesh-China Relations: 40 Years of Partnership’ organised by the Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS) at its auditorium. The seminar was organised on the occasion of the visit of four former Chinese ambassadors to Bangladesh including Wang Chungui and Chai Xi. Their five-day visit is taking place following an earlier visit by seven former Bangladeshi ambassadors to China on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Dhaka and Beijing. About the BCIM, Foreign Secretary Haque said Bangladesh’s engagement in the initiative is deeper and Bangladesh is on board China’s ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative. Bangladesh has been working out as to how the BCIM can be attached to the initiative. The first meeting of the BCIM joint study group was held in Kunming in 2013 while the second one was held in Cox’s Bazar in 2014.
All the four country papers will be scrutinised at the third meeting in Kolkata where one single paper will be made from these four. The single paper will, then, be sent to the political leaderships of the four countries for their concurrence.
Shedding lights on the future of Dhaka-Beijing relationship, Foreign Secretary Haque said that there are opportunities as well as challenges.
In coming days, he said that Bangladesh will face challenges like climate change, terrorism and violent extremism with regards to its relationship with other countries including China.
The opportunities include people-to-people contact, technology transfer, trade and investment, Haque said, adding that the relationship can be turned into a strategic one only after using the opportunities and facing the challenges.
Inaugurating the seminar, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam said that the relations between Bangladesh and China are based on the principles of sovereign equality, peaceful co-existence, mutual trust and respect for each other’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and non-interference in each other’s internal affairs.
“China’s unwavering commitment to our socio-economic development has time and again been substantiated by her continued efforts to assist Bangladesh in fulfilling the legitimate wishes and desires of her people,” he said.
The state minister also said, “With China being the largest and fastest growing economy, and also being a role model for us, we would like to learn from the Chinese experience and short-circuit our growth trajectory to catapult into a higher paradigm.”
On the BCIM, he said, “We strongly believe that Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor (BCIM-EC), the ‘One Belt-One Road’ initiative and the other measures of regional connectivity initiative will positively change the socio-economic scenario of not only our two peoples but of all the peoples of this region.”
“We are also members of the AIIB – the first board meeting of which convened this month in January. We look forward to working closely with China and our other friendly partners in development for creating a sustainable financial future for all of us in the region and beyond,” he added.
Taking part in the discussions, former Chinese envoys to Bangladesh and Bangladeshi envoys to China described Dhaka-Beijing relationship as strong and expressed optimism that the relationship would be strengthened further in the coming days. The envoys said that there are many areas of cooperation through which both the countries and their people can be benefitted. Mentioning huge trade imbalance in favour of Beijing, they also laid emphasis on more Chinese investments in Bangladesh. The envoys and other discussants also stressed the need for more people-to-people contacts between the two countries.

 

Bangladesh, China, India finalise BCIM papers

Bangladesh, China and India have finalised the country papers of the BangladeshChina IndiaMyanmar (BCIM) initiative aimed at greater integration of trade and investment between the four countries, Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque revealed yesterday. He also said that Bangladesh and China have shared their papers with each other. Myanmar is bit behind in this regard. The foreign secretary was speaking as chief guest at the concluding session of a seminar titled Bangladesh-China Relations: 40 Years of Partnership organised by the Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS) at its auditorium. The seminar was organised on the occasion of the visit of four former Chinese ambassadors to Bangladesh including Wang Chungui and Chai Xi. Their five-day visit is taking place following an earlier visit by seven former Bangladeshi ambassadors to China on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Dhaka and Beijing. About the BCIM, Foreign Secretary Haque said Bangladeshs engagement in the initiative is deeper and Bangladesh is on board Chinas One Belt, One Road initiative. Bangladesh has been working out as to how the BCIM can be attached to the initiative. The first meeting of the BCIM joint study group was held in Kunming in 2013 while the second one was held in Coxs Bazar in 2014. All the four country papers will be scrutinised at the third meeting in Kolkata where one single paper will be made from these four. The single paper will, then, be sent to the political leaderships of the four countries for their concurrence. Shedding lights on the future of Dhaka-Beijing relationship, Foreign Secretary Haque said that there are opportunities as well as challenges. In coming days, he said that Bangladesh will face challenges like climate change, terrorism and violent extremism with regards to its relationship with other countries including China. The opportunities include people-to-people contact, technology transfer, trade and investment, Haque said, adding that the relationship can be turned into a strategic one only after using the opportunities and facing the challenges. Inaugurating the seminar, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam said that the relations between Bangladesh and China are based on the principles of sovereign equality, peaceful co-existence, mutual trust and respect for each others sovereignty, territorial integrity and non-interference in each others internal affairs. Chinas unwavering commitment to our socio-economic development has time and again been substantiated by her continued efforts to assist Bangladesh in fulfilling the legitimate wishes and desires of her people, he said. The state minister also said, With China being the largest and fastest growing economy, and also being a role model for us, we would like to learn from the Chinese experience and short-circuit our growth trajectory to catapult into a higher paradigm. On the BCIM, he said, We strongly believe that Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor (BCIM-EC), the One Belt-One Road initiative and the other measures of regional connectivity initiative will positively change the socio-economic scenario of not only our two peoples but of all the peoples of this region. We are also members of the AIIB the first board meeting of which convened this month in January. We look forward to working closely with China and our other friendly partners in development for creating a sustainable financial future for all of us in the region and beyond, he added. Taking part in the discussions, former Chinese envoys to Bangladesh and Bangladeshi envoys to China described Dhaka-Beijing relationship as strong and expressed optimism that the relationship would be strengthened further in the coming days. The envoys said that there are many areas of cooperation through which both the countries and their people can be benefitted. Mentioning huge trade imbalance in favour of Beijing, they also laid emphasis on more Chinese investments in Bangladesh. The envoys and other discussants also stressed the need for more people-to-people contacts between the two countries.