Experts at a seminar in the city have called for ensuring a win-win proposition to gain maximum benefit from China's Belt and Road Initiative.
Their view came at a seminar on "China's Belt and Road Initiative: Opportunities and Challenges for Bangladesh" held by Economics Study Centre of Dhaka University on Wednesday.
"Bangladesh is in an advantageous position geographically due to its strategic location in between India and China", said Fahmida Khatun, Executive Director of Policy Research Institute.
"Although, Bangladesh can attract huge amount of overseas investment through the Belt and Road Initiative, we also have to follow a cautious approach to ensure that our national interest is preserved in the long term", she added.
The CPD Executive Director noted that there are some controversies regarding Chinese Investment coming through BRI around the world.
"International experience suggests that the lack of transparency is a big issue for Chinese projects".
"Countries also often struggle to pay off Chinese debts -- which also results in bitter consequences for the recipient countries", she also noted.
"We have already seen such instances in Sri Lanka when the island country was compelled to lease out a whole seaport to China as it failed to pay off Chinese debt", Fahmida said.
"Recently, the Malaysian government is also reviewing many of its BRI projects", she added.
The CPD Executive Director also noted that foreign investment should offer transfer of technology and expertise which often does not happen with Chinese funded projects.
"We have reasons to be optimistic about BRI. But at the same time, we have reasons to be pessimistic as well", said Tanzimuddin Khan, Associate Professor of International Relations of Dhaka University.
"We cannot think of BRI from a Bangladesh-China bilateral perspective. Because, there is a triangular dimension here", he said.
"We are sandwitched between two regional giants -- India and China. So, we need to strike a balance between the two giants to get the most out of BRI", said Mr. Khan.
Professor of Economics of Dhaka University S M Akash said, "In today's globalized world, we cannot remain isolated. We have to move towards regional and global integration".
"However, we have to ensure a win-win cooperation with China and other countries when dealing with BRI initiatives", he added.
Lecturer of Dhaka University Mahtab Uddin, in his keynote presentation, noted that better integration with BRI can help Bangladesh diversify its export basket.
"However, to get the potential benefit from BRI, ensuring good governance is crucial while the quality of infrastructure also needs a notch-up", he added.
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