Thirteen Chinese companies on Friday signed investment agreements involving $13.60 billion with 13 Bangladeshi companies with the aim of increasing bilateral trade and business between the two Asian countries. The investment agreements between the companies in the area of infrastructure, construction, power and information technology sectors were signed at a programme ‘Bangladesh-China Business Forum’ at the Sonargaon Hotel in Dhaka on the first day of the two-day visit of Chinese president Xi Jinping. The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade jointly organized the event.Of the 13 Chinese companies, most of the firms are state-owned, while out of the 13 Bangladeshi companies, only two are state-owned. ‘Infrastructure, construction, textile, shipbuilding, automobile, pharmaceuticals and information technology are the potential sectors in Bangladesh and Chinese investors are interested to make investment in the sectors,’ Chen Zhou, vice-president of the CCPIT, said at the event. He said transformation of product is important for sustainable growth and Bangladesh and China have scope to work on the issue. ‘We have just started our journey together and the visit of the president of China brought the two countries (Bangladesh and China) very close,’ commerce minister Tofail Ahmed said. He said Bangladesh government has decided to award a special economic zone to China near Chittagong to attract investment from Chinese entrepreneurs. The commerce minister said the investment policy of Bangladesh is very liberal and the foreign investment is protected by the act of law. ‘I hope BCIM business corridor for Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar will be established and I see the bright future of business for the two countries,’ Tofail said. He said that though China recognized Bangladesh after 1975, the bilateral trade and business was growing fast and now China was the largest trade partner of Bangladesh. Bangladesh has entered into a new era of trade and business through the multi-billion investment agreements with Chinese companies, said Abdul Matlub Ahmad, president of the FBCCI. He said that people would be benefited through the agreements and it would also be helpful to graduate Bangladesh to middle-income country from lower middle-income one. Matlub welcomed the visiting Chinese business delegation saying that Bangladesh side was enthusiastic in joining with China for greater business and investment collaboration. He said that China would be one of the most strategic and important partners for Bangladesh in Asia and the upcoming ‘silk road’ under the one belt one road initiative would connect Bangladesh with China through multimodal transport networks and it would transform the existing communication and business linkage. On Thursday, seven Chinese companies signed investment and import agreements worth $186 million with 13 Bangladeshi companies.
