The peoples of Bangladesh and China are both seeking their own development opportunities from the other side’s success. Together they are protecting the peaceful and stable Asian environment, and drawing a new chapter of mutual benefit and win-win cooperation.

Bangladesh is a familiar but also strange country for most Chinese.

It is an ancient land, but a young nation and a country of youth. Bangladesh’s largest ethnic group, the Bengalis, is one of the oldest peoples in south Asia, with a history that dates back thousands of years. But Bangladesh achieved its independence only in 1971. It is 43 years old now, and its 160-million population is relatively young, with more than half aged 24 or younger.

It is also a fast developing land, fighting its way upstream against many difficulties. Bangladesh is a densely populated country, identified as one of the world's least developed countries by the United Nations. But Bangladesh is using its human resource to develop labor-intensive industries, and its economic growth has stayed around 6% over the last decade. After China, it is now the second biggest exporter of garments in the world.

The friendship between China and Bangladesh has a long history. The two countries had the foresight to establish the “Southern Silk Road” in the 4th century BC, which resulted in a sincere exchange of communications between two ancient civilizations that has lasted more than 2000 years.

Now relations between China and Bangladesh have reached a new historical high. The two countries established diplomatic relations in 1975, and announced their intention to build a closer and broader cooperation relationship. Bilateral trade reached 10 billion USD in 2013, China is Bangladesh’s largest trade partnership, and Bangladesh is China’s third largest trade partner in South Asia. China launched South Asia’s first Confucius Institution in Bangladesh to boost Chinese-language education and culture. Bangladesh is also expanding its cooperation with China in areas such as infrastructure construction, energy and power, trade, and travel and both countries jointly promote the building of the economic corridor along China, Bangladesh, India and Myanmar.China hopes to expand bilateral cooperation in areas including trade, investment, energy, infrastructure construction, technology, agriculture, and disaster prevention and relief.

Bangladesh clearly has a promising future, as its population dividend gradually pays off, and Bangladesh has also begun the formulation of a long-term perspective plan: to become a middle-income country by 2021, and to be a peaceful, prosperous, happy and developed nation by 2041. The dream of people in Bangladesh has much in common with the Chinese dream of national renewal; China-Bangladesh relations will enjoy a flourishing future.

The article is edited and translated from中孟携手共圆梦, source: People’s Daily, author: Li Jun, Chinese ambassador to Bangladesh.