China Embassy in Dhaka hosts welcome reception for newly-appointed envoy Yao Wen

The Chinese embassy in Dhaka on Monday (6 March) hosted the welcome reception in honour of Yao Wen, newly-appointed ambassador of China to Bangladesh.

General SM Shafiuddin Ahmed, chief of Army Staff, Salman F Rahman, Private Industry and Investment adviser to Prime Minister, and Shabbir Ahmad Chowdhury, secretary (West) of Ministry of Foreign Affairs graced the reception.

More than 400 dignitaries from the Bangladeshi government, army, political parties, enterprises, universities, think tanks, media houses, foreign missions in Dhaka and the local Chinese community attended the event.

In his remarks, Ambassador Yao said that it was his great pleasure and privilege to be assigned to Bangladesh, the Pearl of the Bay of Bengal, to serve as the 16th Ambassador of China to Bangladesh. He has been yearning for this beautiful and rich land as well as its kind and honest people, and also admiring Bangladesh's leapfrog development achieved in the last fifteen years, which ensures Bangladesh as one of the most successful countries in Asia.

Since he landed in Dhaka two months ago, he has had deep and delightful communication with friends from all walks of life, from which he felt their sincerity and affection towards China, as well as their eager desires for promoting exchanges and cooperation between China and Bangladesh.

"China and Bangladesh are natural cooperation partners", said Ambassador Yao.

Both China and Bangladesh are developing countries with a huge population. There is no unresolved dispute or historical burden between us. As close neighbours, the people of the two countries enjoy a natural sense of intimacy and similar ideas and values. In the 1950s, the founding father of the nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman visited China twice.

He was so much impressed by what he witnessed in the journey and wrote a travelogue entitled "New China as I saw", which infuses his kind and warm feeling towards China deep in the minds and hearts of Bangladeshi people.

"China-Bangladesh cooperation improves well-beings of our two peoples", stressed Ambassador Yao. The cooperation on economy, trade and mega projects serves as the pillar of our bilateral relations. A good number of roads, bridges, power plants, ports and other infrastructure projects have been completed, which have reshaped the landscape of Bangladesh, provided more than one million job opportunities, and promoted socio-economic development as well as people's livelihood in Bangladesh. Even more gratifying, hundreds of thousands of Bangladeshi people have developed self-reliance by working for these projects. Some even found their beloved and changed their own destiny.

Yao said that the potential of China-Bangladesh relations is unlimited.

China has embarked on a new journey towards a modern socialist country in all respects, while Bangladesh is striving with no effort spared for the splendid dream of "Sonar Bangla" by working on the country's Vision 2041. Both countries have the same goals and similar visions. He is fully convinced that China-Bangladesh relations will set a good example for developing countries to understand, trust and support each other.

"Last three years are difficult for all of us due to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, we are seeing the light at the end of tunnel," he further said.

Since March, flights between China and Bangladesh have been operating on daily basis, and therefore there will be more high-level visits, people-to-people contact, economic, trade and investment cooperation, cultural and artistic exchanges between our two countries.

China and Bangladesh will also closely cooperate and coordinate on regional and multilateral affairs, so as to inject more stability and certainty into this uncertain and unstable world. As an old saying in China goes, "a year's plan starts with spring".

Now it is the season of spring in Bangladeshi calendar and our relations are also ushering in 'Spring' with new vigour and vitality. "Let's roll up our sleeves together and kick off to realise our respective dreams and embrace an even brighter future of China-Bangladesh relations", appealed Ambassador Yao in conclusion of his speech.

The guests felicitated Ambassador Yao for his appointment to the post. They highly commended the development of China in the new era, and applauded for the Strategic Partnership of Cooperation between Bangladesh and China.

It is expected that, under the guidance of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, China and Bangladesh will continue developing the healthy and stable bilateral relations, promote China-Bangladesh practical cooperation to a new level, and jointly set an example of friendly relations among developing countries.

During the reception, artists from Kunming National Dance and Song Theater presented performances with an exotic genre. Nilu Akter from Confucius Institute at Dhaka University, Tasnova Zerin Haque from Confucius Institute at North South University and Sabuj Ahmed graduated from Dhaka University Department of International Relations also demonstrated Chinese tea art, paintings and music.

The art programmes showcased the profound and diversified Chinese culture, and were warmly welcomed by the audience.

The reception concluded with full success in an agreeable and amicable atmosphere.