Economic corridor project welcome: minister

A businessman from Bangladesh promotes traditional handicrafts during a trade fair in Kunming, Yunnan province, in June. Economic ties between China and Bangladesh are becoming closer. Lin Yiguang / Xinhua

A proposal to further enhance economic development and cooperation between Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar is welcome, Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Dipu Moni said.

Moni made the remarks in an exclusive interview with China Daily during her recent visit to China.

"We congratulate China for proposing this innovative (Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor) project. Bangladesh welcomes this proposal and stands eager to work with China, India and Myanmar for its early implementation," Moni said.

"I believe the (proposal) will provide a major boost to the trade and economic relations between China and the countries that the corridor would connect ... by greatly enhancing connectivity between them all."

The proposal to establish such a trade corridor in the four countries comes from an idea originally developed by Chinese scholars in Kunming at the end of the 1990s called the "Kunming Initiative".

The initiative evolved into the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Forum for Regional Cooperation during its first meeting in 1999, to create a business platform where major stakeholders could exchange ideas on promoting economic growth and trade in the region.