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Editorial

Significant China visit

New opportunities in prospect
17 March 2010, 18:00 PM
EDITORIAL
WE have high expectations for the prime minister's 5-day state visit to China at the invitation of the Chinese premier, and hope that the trip will prove successful and fruitful on all fronts. The rise of China as a global superpower can be a great opportunity for its close neighbour Bangladesh, and we trust that this visit will forge a new era of partnership and cooperation between our two countries that will be very helpful to Bangladesh's long-term economic development. The prime minister has already taken a bold initiative with her opening to India, and we feel that moving swiftly to consolidate a good relationship with our other large neighbour is exactly the right thing to do. Friendly and mutually advantageous relations with both regional giants can only bring huge dividends to us and we stand to gain greatly from our vital strategic position in between the two. China has proved over the years that it is a good friend to Bangladesh keen to collaborate with it in its infrastructure building efforts. The $2.2. billion that Bangladesh seeks from China for new infrastructure projects would certainly be a major boost to our economy and the proposed projects seem to have been well chosen for maximum economic impact and benefit. Chinese assistance with the upgrading of our rail infrastructure is especially necessary and welcome. We also welcome the focus on connecting Kunming to Chittagong, which we feel dovetails perfectly with this government's agenda for regional connectivity. We have always felt that connectivity is the key to Bangladesh's growth prospects and the Kunming initiative is an integral part of this vision. We also hope that the prime minister's trip will spur more Chinese investment in the Bangladesh economy. Indeed greater investment in products aimed at the Chinese market would also go a long way to helping ease access to China's market which is a big potential boon for Bangladesh, that we hope the PM will also focus on in her trip. We hope that the trip will be a resounding success and have every expectation that it will be. Having China as such a close neighbour should be of great advantage to Bangladesh, and if we can leverage this advantage and share in some way in its economic gains, the rewards would be immense.

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