DHAKA /
Bangladesh has formally joined China’s One-Belt One Road Initiative and has elevated its bilateral relationship with China to Strategic Partnership agreeing to co-operate in all regional and international issues.
A joint statement by visiting Chinese President XI Jinping and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina following bilateral talks on Friday made the announcement.
Besides, the Belt and Road Initiative, the two sides have also signed 27 agreements in various areas including industrial capacity building, power and energy, Information and communication technology, maritime co-operation and river management, disaster management and people-to-people contacts.
Both nations also condemned terrorism in all forms and manifestations. The Chinese conveyed their support to Bangladesh in combating terrorism and maintaining national security and stability and expressed readiness in sharing information, capacity building and personnel training.
Both sides also announced 2017 as the Year of Friendship and Exchanges between Bangladesh and China with regard to which among other initiatives, 600 Bangladeshi students will be invited to visit China from 2016-2020.
Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque in a press briefing on Friday also said that Bangladesh-China had “long-standing history” of cooperation in the fields of trade, investment and business, but “new fields have been unveiled through the Chinese president’s visit” with ICT sector particularly witnessed a special breakthrough.
“China would make an investment involving a huge amount in the ICT sector in Bangladesh to help materialise its vision of building Digital Bangladesh,” Haque said.