Beijing:
Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman met Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing during his first official visit abroad after taking charge.
The high-profile bilateral meeting is being seen as the highlight of Tarique Rahman’s visit to China, on his first official visit abroad after becoming Prime Minister of Bangladesh. The meeting is also seen as Bangladesh stepping up its cooperation with the People’s Republic of China.
Earlier, the Bangladesh Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) spokesman Mahdi Amin said Tarique Rahman would raise various issues related to Bangladesh’s national interests in the meeting.
This visit aims to deepen Bangladesh-China relations across multiple dimensions, Amin said.
From strategic cooperation to trade, investment, employment, development projects, and people-to-people exchanges, bilateral engagement between the two countries is expected to reach new heights, Bangladesh Sangbad Sanstha reported.
Bangladesh is seeking China’s help in important projects like the Teesta plan. An agreement has been reached regarding increasing cooperation of two countries in the management of different rivers of Bangladesh including Teesta.
Bangladesh has also decided to move ahead with plans to acquire 24 Chinese J-10CE multirole fighter jets.
The Chengdu J-10C is a highly formidable, cost-effective counterpart that excels in agility and beyond-visual-range (BVR) combat. The J-10CE is the export version of China’s advanced J-10C fighter and this acquisition will make Bangladesh only the second foreign country after Pakistan to operate this particular aircraft.
On Thursday, Tarique Rahman met Chinese Premier Li Qiang and the MoUs were signed under the Global Development Initiative to enhance collaboration between the countries in the presence of the two leaders. Bangladesh and China signed 13 Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) covering bilateral cooperation in various areas following a bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Tarique Rahman and his Chinese counterpart Li Qiang at the Great Hall of the People.
At the end of the meeting and the signing of MoUs on Thursday, Tarique Rahman, along with his delegation, joined a banquet hosted by Li Qiang.
The Bangladesh Prime Minister arrived at the Great Hall after paying tributes at the Monument to the People’s Heroes in Tiananmen Square. He paid homage to the Chinese revolutionary heroes by placing a special red-green wreath at the monument.
PM Tarique Rahman’s visit to China is the second leg of his maiden official overseas visit after his Malaysia tour. He returns to Dhaka today wrapping up his first official tour abroad as Prime Minister.
Shortly after the meeting, Spokesperson of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China, Mao Ning said, “President Xi noted that China has all along attached great importance to the development of China-Bangladesh relations, and upheld the policy of good-neighbourliness and friendship toward all the people of Bangladesh. No matter how the world changes, China will not waver in its commitment to the general direction of building friendship with Bangladesh, and will always be a trustworthy good friend, good neighbour, and good partner of Bangladesh.”
President Xi noted that China has all along attached great importance to the development of China-Bangladesh relations, and upheld the policy of good-neighborliness and friendship toward all the people of Bangladesh.
No matter how the world changes, China will not waver in its… pic.twitter.com/LWj411zvz7
— Mao Ning 毛宁 (@SpoxCHN_MaoNing) June 26, 2026
“China supports Bangladesh in upholding national independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity and rejecting foreign interference,” Mao Ning added.
