As Bangladesh seeks new partnerships to countervail its frosty ties with India, President Xi Jinping Friday assured China’s support to the interim govt in Dhaka and promised to expand “economic and technical” cooperation in talks with chief adviser Muhammad Yunus.
Calling the meeting in Beijing “comprehensive, fruitful, constructive and a grand success”, Yunus’s press secretary Shafiqul Alam said the president said that Chinese firms would be encouraged to relocate manufacturing enterprises to Bangladesh and thus allow people duty-free access to products.
Officials said Dhaka has invited Chinese companies to participate in the Teesta River Comprehensive Management and Restoration Project, which the earlier Sheikh Hasina government in July 2024 had said would be implemented with India. Dhaka and Beijing also had “positive talks” on signing an MoU to exchange hydrological information of the Yarlung Zanbo-Jamuna river (Brahmaputra in India).