Economic Ties With China Set to Enter 'New Stage' of Cooperation

With annual GDP growth of more than 6% over many years, Bangladesh will remain one of the most dynamic economies in South Asia and the world, says China.

Bangladesh will benefit greatly from the huge Chinese economy, as China's imports will exceed US$ 30 trillion in the next 15 years, according to its Ambassador in Dhaka on Tuesday.

"It will be win-win cooperation for China and Bangladesh to fully explore China's import capability, catch up with the demand of the Chinese market, and strengthen bilateral trade,” Ambassador Li Jiming said.

In fulfillment of President Xi Jinping's promise to Prime Minister Sheik Hasina, Beijing announced that it would grant 'zero-tariff access' to 97% of its goods imported from Bangladesh, effective midnight tonight.

The Chinese Ambassador said that it can become a landmark starting point for a new chapter in bilateral trade relations.

He said China has a large market with a population of more than 1.4 billion, and China is sincerely opening up its market to other countries.

In 2019, China's total trade value of goods is around US$ 4.5 trillion, with imports accounting for around US$ 2.2 trillion.

"It is estimated that in the next 15 years, China’s imports will exceed US$30 trillion. China's import will continue to maintain great potential, providing a strong guarantee for China's economic development and a huge market for high-quality products of Bangladesh," said the Ambassador.

He said the continuous development of bilateral trade will also provide a solid foundation for the realization of Bangladesh’s development visions such as “Sonar Bangla” and “Digital Bangladesh”.

The Ambassador said that deepening cooperation in bilateral trade between China and Bangladesh is an inevitable choice to benefit national economies and livelihoods, enhance friendship between the two countries and respond effectively to the outbreak of the pandemic.

He said the problems created by the pandemic are just temporary, while friendship and trade growth between China and Bangladesh will be long-lasting.

Ambassador Jiming said that with the introduction of 97% zero tariff care, economic and trade partnership between Bangladesh and China will certainly be entering a significant new stage.

China says the two countries are "good neighbours and good partners" and specially since the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic, the friendship between the two countries has been fully reflected.

Since the establishment of diplomatic ties between Bangladesh and China in 1975, bilateral trade volumes have risen rapidly in the sense of bilateral friendships.

In the year in which diplomatic ties were formed, the bilateral trade volume between Bangladesh was only US$ 3.06 million.

While in 2019, the volume has reached US$18.33 billion, a dramatic rise compared with that of the initial time, said the Ambassador.

At the same time, China has become the largest trading partner of Bangladesh, and Bangladesh the second-largest trading partner of China in South Asia, he said.

The trade volume between the two countries has maintained a relatively high level of growth in the past five years, with a growing rate of 24.6%, highlighting the rapid development of economic cooperation between China and Bangladesh, said the Ambassador.

Ambassador Jiming said that China-Bangladesh trade partnership has been further strengthened under the Belt and Road Initiative, where the two countries offer products and services of outstanding quality and fair price to each other and genuinely add a sense of value to the two peoples.

Trade Affected Amid Covid-19

With the sweeping effect of the Covid-19 global pandemic, world trade has been hit hard and trade between China and Bangladesh has also been affected, he said.

According to statistics from China, the trade volume between China and Bangladesh between January and April 2020 was USD 5.02 billion, down 16 per cent from the same period last year.

The Chinese envoy said it is high time that the 97% zero tariff treatment come out, which will definitely help the trade between the two countries to recover from the Covid-19 trauma, and enhance export from Bangladesh to China so as to alleviate the trade imbalances.

He said that China enables Bangladesh's trading firms to make good use of 97% zero tariff status to increase their market share in China and to have a positive impact on enhancing the economic and social growth of Bangladesh and the well-being of the citizens of Bangladesh.

Demographic Dividend

The Ambassador said although the Covid-19 pandemic around the world has caused difficulties to the economic development of Bangladesh, it has not changed the fact that the working-age population is abundant, the demographic dividend is yet to be fully realized and the industrial growth potentiality is huge.

Giving a positive economic outlook for Bangladesh, he said that the clothing export industry is Bangladesh 's largest advantageous industry, accounting for most of the country's exports.

In 2019, he said, China imported textiles, clothing and accessories from Bangladesh for USD 590 million, accounting for about 57% of ’s trade.

The export potential of Bangladesh lies in the need to develop manufacturing industry, break through the limitations of its own industrial structure, continuously improve the quality of export products and shift to higher value-added exports, Jiming said.

Over the past 40 years, he said, Bangladesh garment manufacturing industry has made great progress, and its export volume has increased significantly.

However, the Ambassador said that there is still a great deal of opportunity in terms of the types of export commodities, the increase of production quality, the diversification of export commodities, the development of the technological content of goods and the transition of higher value-added items.

In addition, Jiming said that Bangladesh is rich in agricultural products, livestock products, tropical fruits, and seafood.

Through industrial upgrading, expanding the scale of production and improving product quality, Bangladesh has the full potential to continuously expand its exports to China.