PM wants China as valuable partner of prosperity

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday said Bangladesh would very much like to have China as a valuable partner in sharing its progress and prosperity. Sheikh Hasina invited the Chinese business, trade and industry leaders to visit Bangladesh and appraise the realities first-hand. ‘I hope that you would surely find a very attractive environment and opportunities of business in this country, offering the most liberal investment policy in South Asia,’ she said while addressing the 9th China- South Asia Business Forum at Haigeng Conference Centre in Kunming in the morning. Vice President of Maldives Mohamed Jamil Ahmed, Secretary General of SAARC Arjun Bahadur Thapa, President of SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry Ismail Asif, Chairman of China Council for Promotion of International Trade Jiang Sengwei, Secretary of Committee of People’s Congress of Yunnan Province Qin Guangrong spoke on the occasion, among others. Commerce ministers of different SAARC countries, including Bangladesh Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed, and leaders of trade bodies from China, Bangladesh, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Nepal joined the Forum. Sheikh Hasina said Chinese investors might find interest in Bangladesh’s special investment programmes like building international airports, seaports, waterways, transport, and expressways under Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) and Build-Own-Operate-Transfer (BOOT) schemes. ‘Bangladesh is now producing products from ‘Ships to Chips’. Our seaports, land ports and airports are facilitating local and international business,’ she said, according to BSS.