Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus on Friday invited the Chinese business leaders to be part of new Bangladesh and its transformation engaging extensively in terms of doing business for mutual benefit.

Dr Yunus invited top Chinese companies to invest in Bangladesh and make the country a manufacturing hub to export their products to the West and Asia.

"Bangladesh is the hub (for doing business)... we could be the production hub of this entire region. Set up your factories in Bangladesh, sell to the whole region and sell to the whole world," he said, describing Bangladesh's advantage and position with huge access to the world market.

The Chief Adviser said the amazing location of Bangladesh makes it a very exciting country for the investors.

He said Bangladesh is strategically located and it is the doorway for landlocked countries of Nepal and Bhutan and seven Northeastern states of India.

Chief Adviser Prof Yunus shared his vision of New Bangladesh, future of trade and the potential of Bangladeshi youth during the sessions.

Dr Yunus participated in an event called "Investment Dialogue" with Chinese business leaders to inform the Chinese investors about the business-friendly environment in Bangladesh and attract Chinese investment in Bangladesh.

The Chief Adviser said Bangladesh has an advantage of a huge young population full of energy, creativity and aspirations. "That’s the exciting part of Bangladesh."

He said there is no shortage of young people, both men and women, and they are very oriented to the new world, new way of thinking and new way of doing things.

“They are very quick to adopt, very quick to learn if you are making assembly plants, or if you are making any technologically oriented businesses. I think it would be good to consider Bangladesh,” Dr Yunus said.

He said Bangladesh oversees the whole Bay of Bengal as its practical point with huge access to the world through Bay of Bengal.

“So, Bangladesh is your path, not only for Bangladesh itself, but the three other major regions. You can have this advantage of having businesses in this whole region through Bangladesh. That's the most exciting part of it,” Dr Yunus said.

The Chief Adviser hosted four interactive meetings with more than 100 leading entrepreneurs and CEOs of China to share how Bangladesh is now open for business, Chief Adviser's Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam told UNB.

He also described the benefits of relocating their factories to Bangladesh, saying the country faces no trade restrictions and it offers some of the best competive advantages and opportunities to foreign direct investors. 

Prior to his speech, Ashik Chowdhury, Executive Chairman for BIDA and BEZA presented the case for the country titled 'Bangladesh 2.0: Gateway to Growth.' 

Chowdhury focused on data and shared sectoral heatmaps, demand landscape and factors of production competitiveness. 

He also shared some of the investment climate reforms the interim government is undertaking such as AEO, collocation of agencies, relationship management model etc. 

"Xiànzài jèng shì shíhòu," he said to the audience, meaning the time is now. 

This call comes on the back of the significant progress being made recently on the Chinese Special Economic Zone project by BEZA. 

Chowdhury also shared that he is already seeing clear synergy in merging organisations like BIDA and BEZA as one works to build and other promotes. 

Li Qingshuang, the Vice Chairperson of CCPIT - the Chinese chamber of commerce and industry --, also spoke at the Bangladesh investment dialogue.

She said Chinese investors were going global and many of them were interested to invest in Bangladesh.

Li also asked Bangladesh authorities to host more investment promotion events in China as many investors were still not aware of the benefits of setting up factories in the South Asian country.

The CCPIT Vice Chairperson said her organisation would facilitate more Chinese investment to Bangladesh, and pledged to create a platform to promote investment to Bangladesh.

The investment dialogue was followed by three roundtables with leaders from infrastructure, renewable energy, technology industry and academia.

Senior officials and CEOs of top Chinese companies such as the world's largest solar panel manufacturing company Longi, mobile phone maker Oppo, China Civil Engineering Construction Company, Hisense International, Gaotu Education Technology Group, China Biotech and Pharmaceuticals Valley, China Internet, China Machinery Engineering Corporation and China Railway International Group were, among others, joined the roundtable sessions.

"We are encouraged by the enthusiastic enquiries from businesses. The Chinese delegation, which is already the largest at the upcoming investment summit in Dhaka in two week, is about to get bigger," BIDA Executive Chairman Ashik Chowdhury later said.

The Chief Adviser also spoke at a high-level roundtable meeting on social business and the world of three zeroes.

Prof Yunus called for creating a new civilisation where there will be zero wealth  concentration, zero carbon emissions, zero poverty and zero unemployment. 

Top professors and Deans of Peking, Renmin and Tsinghua universities, three of the best educational institutions in the world, and top Chinese youth leader joined the meeting.

Li Daokui, a dean of the Tsinghua University, praised Prof Yunus, saying Bangladesh will be prosperous and achieve higher growth under his leadership.

He also offered to host Bangladesh bureaucrats and policy makers at the Tsinghua for a "day-long deep dive" to share lessons on China's spectacular development.

Meanwhile, Yao Wang, Vice-Chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), a semi-governmental organization that promotes China's trade and economic relations with other countries, met Chief Adviser Dr Yunus and discussed issues of mutual interest, CA's Deputy Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad told UNB.

Dr Yunus also joined the meeting with Han Zheng, Vice President of the People’s Republic of China at a state guest house in Beijing.

On Saturday morning, the Chief Adviser will visit Peking University and receive the Honorary Doctorate.

After receiving the Honorary Doctorate Degree, the Chief Adviser will deliver a speech to the audience.