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Will write new chapter of Dhaka-Beijing bilateral cooperation: Ambassador Li Jiming
Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Li Jiming has said they will work hand in hand with the government of Bangladesh and wider sectors of society to contain the pandemic and overcome the temporary difficulties.
"We will jointly write a new chapter of bilateral cooperation," the Ambassador told UNB looking ahead for a stronger ties between the two countries.
This year marks the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Bangladesh and China.
The Ambassador said a Chinese proverb goes, “Only friendships built on sincerity can last long.”
Over the past 45 years, he said, the two countries have shown mutual respect, understanding, and support in their relationship.
Ambassador Jiming said pragmatic cooperation in a wide range of fields has been greatly expanded and the economies of China and Bangladesh are closely linked and highly complementary to each other.
"There are huge spaces for cooperation in public health, trade, investment, and engineering contracts between the two countries," he said.
The Ambassador thinks the cooperation between Bangladesh and China not only benefits the peoples of the two countries but also promote regional development and stability.
"China will always be the most reliable partner of Bangladesh and a firm builder and implementer of major infrastructure projects for the Belt and Road connectivity," he said.
Solidarity and Cooperation
The ambassador said the virus cannot defeat humanity and they will eventually prevail over the stealthy foe. “Solidarity and cooperation are the most powerful weapons for the mankind to defeat the virus.”
He said the COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented crisis facing the mankind, and thus every country shares the same destiny.
"No country can guarantee its absolute security in public health alone until all countries are safe," he said.
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Decision over Hajj likely after June 15: State Minister
State Minister for Religious Affairs Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah on Friday said Saudi Arabia, the host country of Hajj, is likely to take a decision over this year’s congregation by June 15.
COVID-19 fallout: Power transmission projects work to be delayed by a year
Although the government has relaxed the shutdown, enforced to curb the transmission of coronavirus, from May 31, still uncertainty looms large over resuming the field level works in the power transmission projects across the country due to upcoming monsoon .
“Now most of the ongoing projects will be delayed by at least a year as monsoon will start from July and field level works are not possible before the next winter”, said a top official of the Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB).
Field-level work on 25 ongoing power transmission projects remained suspended since the coronavirus outbreak in China in December last year, hitting hard the power sector development.
According to official sources, most of these projects were either awarded to Chinese contractors or their equipment were supposed to come largely from China.
“Neither the Chinese workers, nor the equipment are coming from China since the pandemic started in Wuhan,” said Golam Kibria, managing director of PGCB.
He said many Chinese companies are working as subcontractors as well in Bangladesh’s power transmission sector.
The top PGCB official said although coronavirus situation in China has improved, Chinese officials and workers, especially the technicians, are not coming back as the virus situation in Bangladesh is worsening.
“Finding no way, we had to suspend the field-level works on the transmission projects,” he added.
PM nods recruitment of 3,000 medical technologists-technicians
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Huge potential in Dhaka-London economic ties beyond COVID-19 crisis: Dickson
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People want ‘pro poor’ budget
People who have been hit hard by the recent shutdown aimed at containing the coronavirus outbreak, have urged the government to announce a pro-poor national budget that saves both the lives and livelihoods of the people.
Social Safety Net: Expanded coverage to include 17 lakh more under existing schemes
The government is going to expand the purview of schemes forming the social safety net, aiming to bring close to 10 million (1 crore) citizens overall under its coverage in the coming budget for 2020-21 fiscal that will most likely contain the aftermath of the coronavirus epidemic in Bangladesh.
According to the sources, the allocation in this sector would be increased by Tk 1633 crore while the number of the beneficiaries will increase to 98 lakh (9.8 million) from existing 81 lakh.
In the coming budget the allocation will be Tk 76,000 crore while the amount is Tk 74,367 crore in the outgoing budget.
Finance Ministry sources said that generally each year the government does expand the number of beneficiaries of various social safety net programmes at ten percent rate.