Bangladesh and China on Friday signed 40 agreements, including loan and investment deals in the infrastructure sector worth over $20 billion, as they upgraded their ties to a strategic partnership after Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with Premier Sheikh Hasina.

"We agreed to elevate China-Bangladesh relations from a closer comprehensive partnership of cooperation to a strategic partnership of cooperation and to increase high-level exchanges and strategic communication, so that our bilateral relations continue to move ahead at a higher level," Xi said after his talks with Hasina.

"China-Bangladesh relationship is now at a new historical starting point and heading toward a promising future," Xi said.

After bilateral talks, Xi and Hasina witnessed the signing of 27 agreements and memoranda of understanding involving the two governments. Chinese state-owned and private entities also signed 13 agreements mostly with Bangladeshi private enterprises.

"The deals could involve an amount of over $20 billion as those included mega projects requiring loans," a foreign ministry official asking not to be named told news agency PTI.

Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque, while briefing reporters on the deals, however, preferred not to quote any figure.

"You will have to wait for a few more days to know about total financial involvement of the projects to be undertaken under the agreements," he said.

Commerce ministry officials confirmed that 13 of the projects over which China signed deals with 11 Bangladeshi private enterprises and two government entities, mainly covering infrastructure, communication, power and energy and sports, involved $13.6 billion.

In another significant development, Bangladesh also extended its support to Xi's pet Belt and Road Initiative over which India has expressed its apprehensions in the past.

Bangladesh, Hasina said, was willing to actively work with China within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative and support the building of an economic corridor linking Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar, so as to push forward development in various fields such as electricity, energy, technology, agriculture, water resources, investment, transportation infrastructure and connectivity.

"China is ready to work with Bangladesh to move forward as friends and partners who trust and support each other and to add more substance to China-Bangladesh strategic partnership of cooperation," Xi said after holding talks with Hasina.

At the signing ceremony, Hasina noted that she had a "very fruitful" discussion with Xi on issues like improving bilateral, regional, and international cooperation.

"We agreed to form synergy between our respective development strategies, jointly advance the belt and road initiative and launch the joint feasibility study on a China- Bangladesh FTA to strengthen our trade and investment cooperation and strengthen practical cooperation in key areas such as infrastructure, productivity capacity, energy and power, transportation, ICT and agriculture," Xi said.

Xi said China would "continue to do its best" to provide capital, technological and human resources support and carry out "more cooperation" on big projects with Bangladesh to support its economic and social development.

"There was a closer comprehensive cooperation between Bangladesh and China. But the cooperation has been lifted to a strategic relationship," Foreign Secretary Haque told a media briefing after Xi-Hasina talks.

"Both the leaders said Bangladesh-China relations are based on trust and are time tested and therefore the relations have now been elevated to a strategic level," he said.

 

Haque said they also agreed to jointly advance the BCIM economic corridor and increase communication and coordination of international and regional issues of shared interest.

Prime Minister Hasina in her statement reiterated that Bangladesh supports China in all of its core issues including the "one China policy".

"We have agreed to work closely and support each other on regional and international issues of mutual interest," she was quoted as saying by Bangladeshi media.

"Our efforts today are aimed at attaining goals of becoming a knowledge-based middle-income country by 2021 and eventually a developed country by 2041," Hasina said.

Talking to reporters along with Prime Minister's Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim, the Foreign Secretary said Xi and Hasina agreed to work together to combat terrorism and militancy under the under the strategic relationship.

"The bilateral ties would now be 'more deepened and widened'...We would see a new shape of the bilateral ties at different levels soon," Haque said.

He described the talks as "fruitful and successful" in opening up a new horizon in terms of bilateral ties.

Haque said the two countries have a "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 witnessing a special breakthrough.

In the traditional sector, he said, agriculture and trade relations were deepened and widened further coinciding with Xi's visit.

During the meeting, Xi said the closer comprehensive partnership of cooperation the two sides forged in 2010 has yielded fruitful results, with bilateral cooperation advancing steadily in political, economic, cultural and security areas and on international and regional affairs.

China highly values its friendly cooperative ties with Bangladesh and will continue to offer support within its capacity for the economic and social development of the South Asian country, Xi said.

China stands ready to push forward bilateral practical cooperation by aligning the development strategies of the two countries, the Chinese President said.

Earlier, Bangladesh rolled out the red carpet for Xi, the first Chinese head of state to visit the country in 30 years.

A 21-gun salute marked Xi's arrival as he stepped down from a special Air China flight and was received by Bangladesh President Abdul Hamid.

Four Bangladeshi Air Force jets escorted the aircraft carrying the Chinese leader as it entered the country's airspace while a contingent of army, navy and air force accorded him a guard of honour after he landed.

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