Rahman has made a show of it in this high-profile visit, one that is meant to speed up deals and make sure he can sit down with the Chinese president. After a couple of days in Malaysia, the prime minister is in position to make the most of what Beijing has to offer in terms of policy and hard investment.
Why this visit matters
This part of the itinerary is about getting things done. Asad Alam Siam, the Foreign Secretary, put it this way: they have 15 or 17 bilateral instruments in the works to put some teeth into the goodwill. You can also count on some talk of the Teesta River project, which is no small matter politically.
Bangladesh is after more from one of its biggest trading and development partners. A good showing here would tie Dhaka’s growth plans to a sturdier China pipeline and set the tone for what’s to come in the economy and beyond.
Dalian as the launchpad
It all got under way in Dalian for the 17th New Champions Annual Meeting – the Summer Davos Forum, if you will, put on by the World Economic Forum. There, Rahman is to put in an appearance before the WEF’s head honcho and give a piece on ‘Climate Leadership in a Shifting Global Landscape’.
He and his wife were met at Dalian Zhoushuizi International Airport by a host including Liaoning’s Vice Governor Bai Ying and the respective ambassadors. It is a way of making an impression while opening doors to the kind of people who run global business and policy.
Deals, projects and timelines
Before he makes the high-speed train ride to the capital for the main event – a June 26th audience with President Xi – the prime minister will be at a banquet with Li Qiang and see the Kazakh PM.
In Dhaka, they are touting this as a visit with substance. Siam says the two are chipping away at a list of 15 to 17 agreements, not to mention the Teesta issue. It is all part of the story Bangladesh wants to tell about the scope of its partnership with China.
If you are following along, these are the things to keep in mind:
– The Xi Jinping meeting, June 26th
– A target of 15 to 17 bilateral instruments
– The Teesta River project in the mix
– Some face time with the world at Summer Davos
Malaysia to China: a sequenced push
Rahman comes to China off the back of a two-day official run in Malaysia with Anwar Ibrahim. They put a pen to an MoU and a couple of other pieces of paper there, a prelude to the China side of things.
You could say it is a methodical way of racking up support on the ground before you go to Beijing and put some weight on the table. It is how you make some headway now and show your external economic policy is steady.
What comes next
Once the meetings in Beijing are over, the talk should turn to when and how. The number of instruments on the table shows they want to move fast, and any word on the Teesta project will be felt right away in Bangladesh.
Rahman will be at the forum to mix with the political and business set, a bit of private sector outreach to go with the state-level business. If he can put the agreements in the bag, Bangladesh will be on its way with a better handle on finance, connectivity and the like.
