Chinese President Xi Jinping, stepping up a competition with India for regional influence, said Friday ties with Bangladesh would be enhanced to a strategic partnership as the two countries signed 27 agreements worth billions of dollars.
Xi, making a first trip by a Chinese president to Bangladesh in 30 years, boosted involvement in Bangladeshi infrastructure at a time when Japan has also increased investment in the country located on the Bay of Bengal.
"We agreed to elevate the relations between China and Bangladesh from a closer comprehensive partnership of cooperation to a strategic partnership of cooperation," Xi said after talks with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.