An inter-ministerial Bangladesh delegation led by Foreign Secretary Md Shahidul Haque left Dhaka for Beijing on Tuesday on a five-day visit.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is expecting the visit will have “some positive impacts” on Sino-Bangla bilateral relations.
In a media release, the ministry said it would be the first ‘high level’ visit after the new Chinese leadership assumed power last year.
The Chinese Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Liu Zhenmin invited the delegation that will discuss a whole range of bilateral issues during their meetings with different ministers.
Senior officials at the Economic Relations Division, Ministries of Communications and Commerce, Board of Investment, Prime Minister’s Office, and Armed Forces Division comprised the delegation.
It would give particular attention to China’s engagement on emerging issues like connectivity, BCIM (Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar) Process, climate change, maritime cooperation, and disaster management partnership, according to the release.
The ministry said with the change of Chinese leadership, once in a decade, “there seems to have a lasting impact on China’s conduct of foreign policy as well as its regional and international position on issues of mutual interests”.
In this context, it expected that this visit would be viewed as “a warm and friendly’ gesture from Bangladesh to China and “may eventually result in some positive outcomes vis-a-vis Bangladesh’s bilateral relations with the China”.
It said the purpose of the visit was also “to establish network of linkages to further Bangladesh’s interests”.
The Bangladesh delegation would also visit Hubei and Yunnan provinces to hold meetings and discussions with Provincial Governors and other high ranking State and Party Officials.
Bangladesh recently opened its mission in Yunnan provision, China’s gateway to South Asian countries.
Bangladesh has been designated as the ‘Theme Country’ in the first China-South Asia Expo held in Kunming in the first week of this month. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs views this as a testimony to Bangladesh’s potential as ‘an emerging economy’ in the region.
The two-way trade between Bangladesh and China crossed $8 billion last year from less than $3 billion even three years back.
The Foreign Secretary will meet Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. He is also expected to meet the Commerce Minister, who is in charge of all development assistance to Bangladesh.
According to the ministry, a Bangladesh delegation last visited China in October 2011 for 10th Foreign Office Consultations.
Source: Bd news24
