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by Naim-Ul-Karim
DHAKA, Dec. 24 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit this year came as a boon for Bangladesh's economy, which has been mired by a spate of terror attacks and dented market faith and sentiment amid diminishing security confidence.
Incidents of killings and terrorist attacks, particularly an attack in a Spanish café in Dhaka's diplomatic Gulshan enclave, cast a huge shadow over the prospects for the country's economy.
Observers close to the matter have said, however, that business confidence rebounded to its highest level in the two months following President Xi's visit, which signaled to the global community that situation in Bangladesh was returning to normal and its doors fully open for business.
Before the wounds of the July 1 deadly terror attack at the Spanish restaurant, that left 22 people dead, including 18 foreigners and two police officers, had even begun to heal, Bangladesh suffered a fresh blow on July 7 when terrorists attacked Muslims' Eid prayers.
Terrorism in the country added to Bangladesh's economic woes, as the country had already suffered a loss of more than 1.4 billion U.S. dollars due mainly to the 2014 election-related political unrest, with theses losses reduce the growth rate from the 6.2 percent to 5.4 percent, according to official statistics.
Against such adverse situations, experts say Xi making the first trip by a Chinese president to Bangladesh in 30 years, helped galvanize Bangladesh and its people to ride out the economic upheaval with dozens of investment and cooperation deals offered by China.
Local economists said the Chinese president's visit brought billions of dollars of investment deals to Bangladesh's transport, infrastructure and energy production, leather, ready-made garments, pharmaceuticals and automobile sectors, to name a few.
Abdul Matlub Ahmad, president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI), the country's top trade body, said the deals signed during Xi's visit sent a positive signal to the rest of the world that normalcy had returned to Bangladesh after the Dhaka cafe attack and subsequent acts of terror.
He said the deals reflected Dhaka's improving security situation and helped Bangladesh's efforts to improve its entire business climate.
Khandaker Golam Moazzem, additional research director of Bangladesh's leading think tank, the Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD), told Xinhua recently that the visit of President Xi provided a signal to the global community that Bangladesh is not "unsafe" for foreigners as was being claimed after the Holy Artisan attack by terrorist groups in June, 2016.
"The measures taken by the government with the support of the international community have revamped the business environment in Bangladesh within the shortest possible time," he said.
He added that Xi's visit has highlighted the fact that the bilateral relationship between Bangladesh and China had reached a new height of "strategic partnership," which would facilitate the contributions of the Chinese government and the private sector not only in extending commercial credit or investment, but also in extending technological and technical support for the development of Bangladesh's industrial sector.
"When the numerous deals which have been signed are realized, Bangladesh's business environment will be able to attract more domestic and foreign investment including more Chinese investment," he said.
Moazzem went on to explain that, "The level of cooperation that has been agreed to in the Joint Communique issued by the two heads of states, would help Bangladesh to further strengthen its economic position at a regional level and would better facilitate and strengthen relationship with other neighboring countries."
Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir, chairman of Unnayan Onneshan, a leading local think tank here, told Xinhua that the major achievement in 2016 for Bangladesh in the international arena is the enhancing of of China-Bangladesh ties to become a strategic partnership of cooperation, which is a watershed moment for Bangladesh's quest for equal partnerships with balanced diplomacy.
"The Belt and Road initiative, for example, will provide the prospect for deepening political relations and cultural ties with the relevant regions including China and provides a unique opportunity to challenge the traditional notion of connectivity," said Titumir.
Titumir, also a professor of Economics at Bangladesh's top Dhaka University, said the Belt and Road initiative could lead to a new kind of internationalization and create a dialogue among partner countries and regions which would lead to a greater sense of solidarity, that could transcend beyond the present form of economic, financial and technological aspects of globalization.
China's infrastructural investments in South Asia, also come with the prospect of further bolstering economic ties and laying long-term strategic and stable relations through the provisions of the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) which will further service the growing needs of the region, Titumir highlighted.
"The estimated requirement of infrastructure financing until 2020 for Asia is 800 billion U.S. dollars a year. Such investment will not only steer growth, but also will realize social and sustainable development goals in the post-2015 era."
"China could play a pivotal role in turning the BCIM (Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar) forum into a growth quadrangle or Regional Economic Development Area, yielding a faster economic growth process by increasing use of the region's untapped resources," said Titumir.
Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had earlier told Xinhua the Chinese president's visit came at a time in history when Bangladesh is about to break free from the clutches of low-level economy equilibrium trap and move into a brand-new frontier of investment, industrialization, ecological restoration and prosperity for all.
"China has become our largest trading partner and we consider China as a trusted partner in realizing our dreams too. China is the leading generator of many of our mega-projects in terms of finance, capitalization and technology," she said.
Hailing the China-proposed Belt and Road initiative, Hasina said Bangladesh is now working to connect growth centers of the country with the rest of the region in South Asia and create a single economic contiguity between South Asia and Southeast Asia.
And this "would be host to greater integration with East Asia and connect the three ecosystems to the rest of the world through our seaports in the south," she added.
"We are on the verge of launching the exclusive Economic and Industrial Zone for Chinese in Chittagong that will be a landmark event in our economic, investment and trade cooperation. We would like to encourage Chinese investors to invest in these economic zones as developers or as individual investors," she said.
Retired Lieutenant General Mahbubur Rahman, also the former chief of army staff of the Bangladesh Army, said Xi's visit was truly outstanding and unique in many respects.
"There has not been too many significant events in the history of Bangladesh equal to President Xi Jinping' visit. The Chinese president's visit has opened Bangladesh's golden door to immense prospects and potential developments," said Rahman.
"He has presented the golden keys of prosperity to the people of this country and let us dream very large dreams. He expressed his deep trust, friendship and love for the people of Bangladesh," Rahman, who is also a member of the highest policy making body of ex-Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's largest opposition party BNP, said.
MS Siddiqui, a professor at Dhaka's Daffodil International University, said the image of Bangladesh was blurred due to the recent terrorist attack at a Dhaka hotel but in contrast, Xi's visit served as a diplomatic "milestone" of "historic significance," as the two countries signed 21 agreements amounting to nearly 40 billion U.S. dollars of investment in Bangladesh.
This is the largest ever investment from a single country, he said and added this has given a positive signal to other countries and investors.
Bangladeshi Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said Bangladesh, which grew at a faster-than-expected 7.05 percent in the last fiscal year, is moving forward with all economic indicators suggesting a positive trend.
The upward economic trend shows that the country is likely to achieve 7.5 percent economic growth in the current 2016-17 fiscal year and the Bangladeshi parliament on June 30 this year passed a 3.41 trillion taka (42.58 billion U.S. dollars) national budget for the 2016-17 fiscal year, targeting an economic growth of 7.2 percent.
Bangladeshi Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu has said, "One of the most important components of the economy is the garment and textile industry. China is a great performer in this industry. We're deeply pleased that China has recently announced a zero tariff policy for 4,762 Bangladeshi products that will surely boost Bangladesh's exports to the Chinese market."
To keep the development on track, Bangladesh looks forward to Chinese cooperation in sectors such as finance and investment, technology, management, defense, agriculture, industry and media," said Inu.
China has also been making immense contributions to Bangladesh's efforts in building a "digital Bangladesh," namely the Information and Communication Technology (ICT), State Minister Zunaid Ahmed Palak said.
"This process saw an inter-network among all government offices and all government officers. We have connected 18,000 government offices up to sub-district level, with the support of the Chinese government," he said.
