Dhaka-Beijing ties ready for next stage

Dhaka sees Beijing as a “good friend”, and it wants to take the bilateral relationship to the next stage, Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus said in an interview with the Chinese state news agency Xinhua yesterday.

Bangladeshis are inspired by China’s achievements, and they hope to learn from China’s experience in developing the country, he said.

“Our relationship has been very strong over the years. Our business is very strong, and we benefit from our collaboration with China,” the chief adviser told Xinhua.

“We can take it to the next stage where our collaboration is not limited to the economy only. It will be cultural too,” he added.

Prof Yunus, who shared the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize with the Grameen Bank for pioneering microfinance, hailed China for its achievement in poverty reduction.

Most countries focus on GDP growth rather than addressing the needs of ordinary people, but China focused on the low-income group, he said. “That’s why the Chinese are very successful in reducing poverty very quickly.”

Xinhua reported that China had been Bangladesh’s largest trading partner for 15 consecutive years. At present, there are nearly 1,000 Chinese enterprises operating in Bangladesh, which have created more than 550,000 jobs in total.

Yunus hopes more Chinese investors will come to Bangladesh and open up a broader market together with local partners.

He also said Bangladesh could learn from China and build a better health care system to benefit the people.

Stating that the past 50 years of Bangladesh-China ties were exciting, the chief adviser said the next 50 years would be “more exciting”.

Yunus said he was looking forward to broadening bilateral cooperation and discussing ways to make it happen.

“We share things together and make a journey together to achieve the things we collectively felt very strongly about,” he said.