Trilateral cooperation: Dhaka, Beijing, Islamabad launch initiative

Bangladesh, China, and Pakistan have launched a trilateral cooperation mechanism to promote economic development and improve people's livelihoods.

The announcement came after a meeting between Bangladesh's acting foreign secretary Ruhul Alam Siddique, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong, and Pakistani Additional Secretary Imran Ahmed Siddiqui in Kunming on Friday.

During Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus's visit to China in March, the two countries signed an agreement on economic and technical cooperation and eight MoUs.

Prof Yunus met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in April this year, but there are not many signs of improvement.

At Friday's meeting, Pakistani Foreign Secretary Amna Baloch participated via video link.

China and Pakistan issued separate statements on the meeting. A Bangladesh foreign ministry official yesterday said the trilateral initiative was taken, but added that he had no details to share with the media.

Sun Weidong said China is committed to building a community with a shared future with neighbouring countries.

"Bangladesh and Pakistan are both good neighbours, good friends, and good partners of China, and important partners in high quality Belt and Road cooperation," he said.

All three countries face the mission of national revitalisation and modernisation, and all require a peaceful and stable environment, he added.

Cooperation among China, Pakistan and Bangladesh aligns with the common interests of the three peoples, and can contribute to regional peace, stability, development and prosperity, according to the Chinese foreign ministry statement.

The three sides, after exchanging views extensively, agreed to advance trilateral cooperation based on the principles of good-neighbourliness, equality and mutual trust, openness and inclusiveness, common development, and win-win cooperation.

They also agreed to explore and implement cooperation projects in such areas as industry, trade, maritime affairs, water resources, climate change, agriculture, human resources, think tanks, health, education, and culture.

The three sides will establish a working group to follow up and implement the understandings reached during the meeting.

"The three sides emphasised that China-Bangladesh-Pakistan cooperation adheres to true multilateralism and open regionalism, not directed at any third party," the statement said.

Pakistan Foreign Secretary Amna expressed Pakistan's desire for a deeper engagement between China and South Asian countries.

She conveyed Pakistan's readiness to work with China and Bangladesh to enhance ties in trade and investment, agriculture, digital economy, environment protection, marine sciences, green infrastructure, culture, education and people-to-people exchanges.