“This initiative has already worked to attract many countries, including Japan, India and the USA to Bangladesh,” he said while addressing a panel discussion on ‘The Future of the Belt and Road Initiative’ at the World Economic Forum in Dalian, China on Wednesday, according to a message received here.
The state minister appreciated the Chinese initiative, saying this is a good move for Bangladesh.
He, however, said action plan, technology transfer, cultural unity, transparency and proper campaign could make the move more realistic.
Nasrul Hamid mentioned that Japan has helped Bangladesh prepare a power system master plan before it invested $6.5 billion in a single project in the power sector.
China can move ahead with this visible action plan as well, he said.
The state minister said there is huge opportunity for investment in the power and energy sector in Bangladesh.
The renewable energy could be a potential sector for investment with scope of technology transfer, he observed.
Giving a description on Chinese investment in Bangladesh, he said there are 5 Chinese-ECA (export credit agency) funded projects in the power sector, six joint venture projects while Chinese firms have been working as EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) contractors in 31 projects under different entities of the Power Division.
In addition, he said there are proposed 7 government-to-government (G-to-G) projects of which two have already received approval of the Bangladesh government and are now being implemented.
The function was also addressed by Bruno Bruno Maçães, senior fellow of China’s Renmin University; Song Zhiping, chairman of China National Building Materials Group; and Olga Algayerova, executive secretary of UN Commission of European Affairs.
Tian Wei of China Global TV Network conducted the panel discussion.