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The People Daily Kunming, (Yunnan), China; 6 June: Senior Chinese officials said here today (Monday) that their country is thinking to build a road network involving Bangladesh, Myanmar and India to promote cooperation between the countries in the region. Welcoming the Chinese plan on road network, Bangladesh apparel exporters and leaders of Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) said the infrastructure would multiply the regional trade, commerce and investment. Bai Enpei, a senior political leader and vice-governor of Kunming, said Bangladesh and China should understand each other better to reap benefits. "Yunnan is China's South West province...and we want to develop a framework to enhance economic cooperation between China, Myanmar, Bangladesh and India," said Shi Minghui, deputy director general of Foreign Affairs Office of Yunnan province. Minghui was talking to Bangladeshi journalists after the vice-governor inaugurated the Kunming Import and Export Commodities Fair in the booming Chinese city of 3.6 million people. Some 30 countries participated this year's fair to display their products that include textiles, agro-products, foods and drinks, machinery, IT, mining, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and electronics. The inaugural ceremony was attended by commerce ministers, diplomats, chamber leaders of ASEAN and other countries in the region. Senior political leaders of China and many provincial governors came to the gala annual event to greet participants and visitors. The deputy director general of Foreign Affairs Office said he would like to gather more information about Bangladesh's economy to reduce trade gap and increase bilateral cooperation. "We have to establish more direct air-links with Bangladesh and more passengers need to travel from both the countries," Minghui said indicating frequent visits would help the business leaders to expand investment and trade. Bangladesh's Ambassador to China Ashfaqur Rahman said the direct air link between Dhaka and Kunming has created a "new horizon" in the field of economic and political cooperation. He told the Bangladesh media that Bangladesh's export to China would increase by three bolds this financial year, reaching US $60 million. He said, if needed, the government might consider opening up a consular office in Kunming to facilitate commerce and investment among these two close neighbours. He acknowledged that the plan to build a road network was also being examined by the government. Rahman said in the last one year, Chinese people have been making frequent enquiries on Bangladesh's economic and trade issues. The Bangladesh diplomat said the exporters of Bangladesh should target the great sports event of Olympic of 2008 and Beijing International Exposition of 2010 to increase their business. Dhaka Chmaber of Commerce and Industry president Saiful Islam said private entrepreneurs of Bangladesh have responded quickly to the opening of new air communication. This indicates those people are ready to exploit any economic benefits in China. He said China's relations with Bangladesh bear politico-economic implications since China has shown interest to use the Bay of Bengal to enhance commerce of its land-locked Yunnan province. Islam said China should invest in IT, agro-processing and light engineering sectors of Bangladesh, beside textile and clothing sectors. Fazlul Hoque, the president of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association said he is happy to see the responses from Chinese buyers. Chinese President Hu Jintao and Chairman of the Myanmar State Peace and Development Council Than Shwe exchanged congratulatory messages Wednesday on the occasion of the 55th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries. China and Myanmar are close neighbors and the two peoples enjoy profound "Paukphaw" (fraternal) friendship between them, President Hu said in his message, adding that Myanmar was among the first countries to establish diplomatic ties with New China after its founding in 1949. Having stood the test of constant change of events on the international arena and experienced the changing situation in each other's country over the past 55 years, the bilateral relationship, growing under the guidance of the Five Principles of Peaceful Co-existence, has maintained its vitality all along, Hu said. He said China values the traditional friendship between the two countries and stands ready to work together with Myanmar to deepen the mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields and further promote the all-round development of the good-neighborly relations of cooperation in the new century. China and Myanmar should always remain good neighbors, good friends and good partners, said President Hu. For his part, the Myanmar leader said the friendly cooperation with China has been increased steadily since the establishment of diplomatic ties. Myanmar sincerely wishes to continue the close coordination with China, said Than Shwe, adding that the 55th anniversary celebration will bring the "Paukphaw" friendship between the two countries to a new height. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Vice President Zeng Qinghong and Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing also exchanged congratulatory messages with their respective Myanmar counterparts on Wednesday. Source: Xinhua "Myanmar has already placed order for 36 coaches for meter-gauge recently and the RCF will be sending these coaches by the end of this year" Yashpal Gupta, General Manager of RCF told PTI revealing the consignment, which costs Rs 19.26 crore include 22 chair cars,12 first class coaches and two break-win coaches. He revealed that delegation from Sudan, Bangladesh, Paraguay and some other countries had also visited RCF recently and it was expected that these countries would also place order for the coaches. Asked whether export for Myanmar would be the first export of coaches by RCF, the informed that earlier the RCF had exported 72 bogies to Vietnam but full-fledged coaches are being exported for the first time. Regarding the production of coaches in RCF, Gupta revealed that RCF manufactures as many as 1200 coaches every year and the same would be increased to 1400 coaches very soon. |
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