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BD an important strategic partner of China
BD an important strategic partner of China
Recently, China has released its main economic data for the first half of 2023, which has attracted enormous attention from the international community. According to the data, China's economy has retained its strong resilience, substantial potential, and immense vitality, showing a good momentum of
Yao Wen
Mr Yao Wen — Ambassador of China in Bangladesh
Published :
Aug 02, 2023 12:19 PM
Updated :
Aug 02, 2023 12:21 PM
Recently, China has released its main economic data for the first half of 2023, which has attracted enormous attention from the international community. According to the data, China's economy has retained its strong resilience, substantial potential, and immense vitality, showing a good momentum of recovery.
With regard to the gross economic growth, China's GDP in the first half of the year grew by 5.5%, which has been notably faster than that of the world's major developed economies, exhibiting strong resilience.
With regard to other indicators, China's economy has also registered a stellar performance.
Market demand gradually recovered. The total retail sales of consumer goods increased by 8.2%. The contribution of final consumption expenditure to economic growth reached 77.2%. The national per capita consumption expenditure saw a nominal growth of 8.4%. The investment in fixed assets grew by 3.8%.
Production supply continued to increase. The value added of agriculture witnessed a year-on-year increase of 3.3%. The total output of summer grain ranked the second highest amount in history. The total value added of industrial enterprises above designated size grew by 3.8%, and the value added of services went up by 6.4%. Regarding production, the Chinese economy is now powered mainly by a combination of the service sector and industry.
Foreign trade achieved stability and quality improvement. The total value of imports and exports of goods increased by 2.1%, setting a new historical record for the same period. Exports grew by 3.7%. China's imports and exports with countries along the Belt and Road increased by 9.8%.
Employment and people's livelihoods were ensured. The job market has been generally improved. The urban surveyed unemployment rate averaged 5.3%, down by 0.2 percentage point over that of the first quarter. Residents' incomes increased steadily, where the nominal growth of nationwide per capita disposable income was 6.5%.
This outstanding performance not only improves the well being of the Chinese people, but also injects impetus into the world growth. Since the beginning of this year, the world has witnessed a sluggish economic situation and relatively high inflation, and major economies have tightened monetary policies to curb high inflation, which has aggravated the contraction in global demand. In this context, all parties draw close attention to China's economic performance and expect China to provide substantial support to global economic development. We are proud that China has not let the world down. Major international organizations have recently increased their expectations for global economic growth. One of the key reasons behind this is that China has maintained its economic recovery.
China is the world's second largest economy, the largest manufacturing country, the largest foreign exchange reserve country. China is also the largest trading country in goods, the second largest trading country in services, and the second largest consumer market. China's economic recovery will undoubtedly promote global economic cooperation and provide more driving forces for global economic recovery.
Bangladesh is an important strategic cooperative partner of China, and the first country in South Asia to join the Belt and Road Initiative. China and Bangladesh are seeing an increasing convergence of their interests, and have become a community of shared future. China is set to bring more development opportunities to Bangladesh.
First, China's economic growth has created demand for the trade and investment in Bangladesh. China's economic growth is driven by consumption. With the increase of consumer spending and people's willingness to consume, the demand for high-quality foreign products is bound to rise. China's economic growth is driven by expanding employment and improvement in people's livelihood. As more people have jobs and earn more money, their purchasing power for imported products is bound to increase. All these help expand Bangladesh's exports to China. China's huge domestic market will fully accommodate high-quality products of Bangladesh.
China's economic growth also stems from a high level of opening up. The industrial structures of China and Bangladesh are highly complementary, and the two sides are fully qualified to strengthen production capacity cooperation in sectors such as RMG and renewable energy, encourage more Chinese capital, technology and standards to come to Bangladesh and provide stimulus for the local upgrading of industrial structure and long-term economic development.
Second, China's economic growth has contributed to the construction of "Smart Bangladesh". China's economic growth is propelled by innovation. In the first half of this year, the value-added of information transmission, software and information technology services, and equipment manufacturing related to smart product increased by more than 10% respectively.
China's economic growth is also characterized by green transformation. In the first half of this year, the output of new energy vehicles, solar cells, and charging piles increased by 35%, 54.5% and 53.1% respectively. Energy consumption per unit of GDP decreased by 0.4%. Green growth is also in line with "Smart Bangladesh". There is tremendous potential for China to strengthen cooperation in the field of renewable energy with Bangladesh.
Third, China's economic growth has provided a guarantee for synergizing the development strategies between China and Bangladesh. This year marks the 10thanniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative. China's economic growth has strengthened the influence, inspiration and vitality of the Belt and Road Initiative, making it deeply rooted in countries along the Belt and Road, including Bangladesh, and benefiting local people, to which the Dasherkandi Sewage Treatment Plant Project constructed by Chinese enterprise is a testimony.
This year is surely a "year of harvest" in terms of bilateral economic cooperation. A good number of projects undertaken by Chinese enterprises will commence construction or be completed. Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Tunnel, the first section of the Padma Bridge Railway, Bangladesh Greater Dhaka Sustainable Urban Transport Project, and the first section of Dhaka Elevated Expressway will be completed and open to traffic, which significantly improve the traffic efficiency in Bangladesh. S.Alam 1320MW Coal Fired Plant and Cox's Bazar 60MW Wind Power Plant will be operated commercially, significantly increase Bangladesh's electricity supply. Rajshahi WASA Surface Water Treatment Plant and the Waste-to-Energy Power Plant in North Dhaka will break ground, effectively improve the livelihood of the local people. It is my conviction that these projects will certainly play important role in facilitating Bangladesh to realize "Vision 2041" and "Sonar Bangla" dream.
China is always a trustworthy partner in Bangladesh's journey towards modernization. China stands ready to keep deepening its strategic partnership with Bangladesh and jointly make contribution to global and regional economic growth.
The author of the article is ambassador of China to Bangladesh
