Ladies and gentlemen:
Good afternoon !
Today, my speech topic is To Jointly Build a “Bangladesh-China-IndiaMyanmar (BCIM) Economic Corridor” between China and Bangladesh, to establish a sub-regional cooperation mechanism under the policy of “One Belt and One Road”, and as for some emerging opportunities, talk about how to build “Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor” into a subregional economic demonstration area.
Since the General Secretary Xi Jinping first came up with the idea to jointly build the Silk Road Economy in China and Central Asia to promote bilateral cooperation when he visited Kazakhstan in September 2013, this idea got a strong response in various countries of Central Asia and has become a blueprint to connect the Asia-Europe strategic corridor along the Silk Road, because cooperation along this region has a history of more than 2000 years. In the following three weeks, China Daily reporters had a walk along the “One Belt” route and they reported the development situation along the route, including commercial situation and cultural situation along the belt.
The Silk Road economic belt has provided a historic opportunity for development of all Asian countries, while regional cooperation still faces many challenges, which requires every country to enhance mutual trust to promote communication and cooperation. “Interconnection” and “cooperation” are the key words in today’s world, which is mainly a result of China’s integration and cooperation. Such integration and cooperation refers to integration and cooperation not only with the neighboring countries of China but also with other countries in diversified regions. “One Road” includes the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, and the eastern regions of Europe and Africa are also among all the countries benefited from this policy.
I want to introduce my new book published in the last month, Called New Silk, New Dream, and Research on Great Energy Passageway, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press.
This is map of the Silk Road. How are the past and the present situations of the “Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor”? The concept of “Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor” was first put forwarded by some scholars 17 years ago. My research in this respect has been going on for 12 years so far. I was invited by Ren Jia, President of Yunnan Academy of Social Sciences, to participate in this research and I have written a report with about 50,000 characters and submitted it to the central government. In the report, I wrote that we should build an organization and mechanism like the Shanghai Cooperation Organization to promote economy and trade development, talked about our advantages on adjacent geographical location, and also talked about supplies and services, investment, finance, environment, sustainable development, and so on.
Our basic principle is mutual benefit and win-win results. Guided by this idea, we have established some mechanisms in the aspect of “Silk Road Economic Belt”, for instance, the “Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) Economic Corridor” and “China-Pakistan Economic Corridor” in our neighboring countries.
Last week, I was invited to Beijing to attend an international conference, and on the conference we mainly talked about “China-Pakistan Economic Corridor”. They also made a comparison between China and BCIM. Participants of the conference had more confidence in “China-Pakistan Economic Corridor” than in “Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) Economic Corridor” but my view was just the opposite. I thought the “Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) Economic Corridor” might be more promising.
Why? Because I think the leaders of China and Bangladesh have reached lots of consensus: On June 11, 2014, Sheikh Hasina, the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, met our President Xi Jinping in Beijing and both made commitment to work together to build an economic corridor to connect Bangladesh, China, India, and Myanmar.
President Xi said “Bangladesh is a very important country on the Maritime
Silk Road.” He pointed out that China was very glad that Bangladesh could participate in building the “Silk Road Economic Belt” and the “21st Century Maritime Silk Road” and hoped that both countries could jointly promote building of the economic corridors.
To respond to these suggestions of President Xi, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said that building of the four countries’ economic belt was very important for developing the economy of South Asian countries and was supposed to play a rather active and constructive role.
One day ago, Hasina also said that she was impressed by China’s development and change. She said “From my first visit to China in 1993 to now, I have witnessed great changes occurred on China’s land. China’s rapid development provides great inspiration to Bangladesh and we can learn from China in many aspects. I believe that in the near future, China will become the world’s biggest economy. As an Asian country, Bangladesh takes pride in the rise of China.”
Let’s have an overview on some economic charts here.
Since 1971, Bangladesh’s largest trading partner had always been India. Later, after 2004, India was substituted by China as Bangladesh’s largest trading partner.
Let’s have a look at the opportunities and economic cooperation prospects between China and Bangladesh. What is opportunity? Chinese President Xi Jinping said “We welcome Bangladesh as an initial member to participate jointly in building the Asian Infrastructure Development Bank.” At the very start, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) only had 20 countries and later was increased to more than 50 countries, including some developed European countries, such as the United Kingdom. Bangladesh and China should strengthen cooperation on trade, agricultural infrastructure development and maritime industries. What is the prospect for economic cooperation? President Xi said, for instance, the idea of “Silk Road Economic Belt” and “21st Century Maritime Silk Road” will bring more opportunities for China and Bangladesh. President Xi described Bangladesh as an all-important partner of China in South Asian countries and also an important country in the Indian Ocean region. He said, “The bilateral relationship has always been based on friendship, mutual trust and cooperation.”
The leader of our country brought forward to establish a community of shared interests and a community of common destiny.
I come from Shanghai and I think that Shanghai is also an ideal investment destination of Bangladesh. Shanghai has become a special economic development zone and is an opportunity.
Since there is a very friendly history, cultural exchange as well as nongovernmental contact between China and Bangladesh, I want to quote one sentence of the Indian poet Tagore as the conclusion “Faith is the bird that feels the light and sings when the dawn is still dark.” This moment is approaching near and we must be well prepared to welcome a new world. I believe that through our joint efforts, China and Bangladesh as well as India and Myanmar will certainly greet the arrival of the 21st century with success!