China to provide 83 m US$ for 9th friendship bridge

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DHAKA, May 11, 2017 (BSS) – China will provide about 83 million US dollars to Bangladesh for construction of the 9th Bangladesh-China Friendship Bridge and other infrastructure development projects.

In this connection an agreement was signed between Bangladesh and China in the capital today, official sources at Economic Relations Department (ERD) said.

ERD Secretary Kazi Shofiqul Azam and Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Ma Mingqiang inked the agreement on behalf of their respective sides.

Seven Bangladesh-China friendship bridges have so far been constructed by the Chinese grants and the 8th friendship bridge is under construction over Kocha River in the southern Bangladesh.

At the signing ceremony, the Chinese Ambassador said China has been supporting Bangladesh for its infrastructure development so that the country can bolster its economic development goals. “I hope that we can use this money smartly and more efficiently so that more and more people can benefit from this excellent relationship between Bangladesh and China.”

Mentioning that presently 70 to 80 percent of global foreign reserve are in Asia, the Chinese envoy said “But still we lack in fund for infrastructure development.

If we can cooperate and accept each other, we can remove the bottlenecks,” he said. The ERD Secretary said Bangladesh’s relationship with China is very excellent and outstanding. “This grant is a symbol of friendship between the two countries.

We hope that we will be able to sign another grant agreement in near future.”

ERD sources said the location of the 9th Bangladesh-China Friendship Bridge and other infrastructure projects will be settled later on through negotiations of the two governments.