The Prime Minister will travel to Beijing tomorrow morning for a four-day bilateral visit.

The Prime Minister will travel to Beijing tomorrow morning for a four-day bilateral visit.

DHAKA, July 7 (BSS) – Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will leave for Beijing tomorrow morning for a four-day bilateral visit, which is expected to elevate Bangladesh-China relations from “strategic partnership” to “comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership”.

A charter flight (BG1701) of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, carrying the Prime Minister and her entourage, will leave Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 11am tomorrow and is scheduled to land at Beijing Capital International Airport at 6pm (Beijing time).

During her stay in Beijing from July 8 to 11, the Bangladeshi Prime Minister will hold a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jingping and a bilateral meeting at the delegation level with her Chinese counterpart Li Qiang on July 10.

Bangladesh and China are expected to sign 20 to 22 MoUs during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's four days in office.

“The MoUs on cooperation in economic and banking sector, trade and investment, digital economy, infrastructure development, disaster management assistance, construction of 6th and 9th Bangladesh-China Friendship Bridges, export of agricultural products from Bangladesh and people-to-people connectivity are likely to be signed,” Foreign Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud said at an opening press conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs today.

During the visit, Hasan said, the inauguration of a number of projects of the two countries will also be announced.

Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Bangladesh in October 2016, when relations between the two countries had reached the stage of a strategic partnership.

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's last visit to Beijing was in July 2019. She has also visited China several times before.

The two countries will celebrate the golden jubilee of their diplomatic relations next year.

The Bangladeshi Prime Minister's visit to China will take place 15 days after his last visit to India from June 21 to 22.

On July 9, the second day of Sheikh Hasina's visit to China, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) President Jin Liqun will pay her a courtesy call at the meeting room of her residence.

The Prime Minister will then attend a summit on Bangladesh-China trade, business and investment opportunities at the China World Summit Wing, Shangri-La Circle, in Beijing, China.

In the afternoon, a meeting is scheduled between the Prime Minister and the Chairman of the Consultative Party (Mr. Wang) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

The Prime Minister will then lay a wreath at the Monument to the People's Heroes in Tiananmen Square.

In the evening, she will attend a dinner hosted in her honour by the Bangladeshi Ambassador to China at the Bangladesh House in Beijing.

On July 10, a bilateral meeting at the delegation level led by Bangladeshi Prime Minister and Chinese State Council Premier Li Qiang will be held at the Great Hall of the People, where many documents, including memoranda of understanding, will be signed in their presence.

She will then attend a welcome banquet (lunch) in her honor hosted by the Premier of the State Council of China at the same venue.

On the afternoon of July 10, the Bangladeshi Prime Minister will visit Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

To conclude his visit to China, the Bangladeshi Prime Minister will depart from Beijing Capital International Airport for home at 11:00 a.m. (Beijing time) on July 11 aboard a charter flight (BG1704) of Biman Bangladesh Airlines.

The flight is scheduled to land at Dhaka's Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 2:00 pm (BD time) on the same day.