Bangladesh and China signed a memorandum of understanding on economic and infrastructure cooperation at Mongla Port in Bagerhat on Thursday, 5 November, in the presence of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, The Business Standard reported, citing the Prime Minister's Deputy Press Secretary Jahidul Islam Rony.
Source: The Business Standard
The MoU was signed between Invest Bangladesh and China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC), one of China's largest state-owned construction groups. Saleh Ahmed, Member (Industrial Zone) of Invest Bangladesh, signed for Bangladesh, and Li Chongyang, chairman of China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), a CRCC subsidiary, signed for the Chinese side.
Road Transport, Bridges, Railways and Shipping Minister Shaikh Rabiul Alam, Invest Bangladesh Chairman Ashik Chowdhury and CRCC Chairman Dai Hegen were present at the signing ceremony at the port.
Under the MoU, the two sides will assess and explore investment opportunities across infrastructure, transport, logistics, industry, energy, environmental and eco-friendly projects, and human-resource and skills development. The understanding is a framework for identifying projects — it does not itself confirm a fixed investment amount or give CRCC preferential rights.
Tk 4,068 crore port modernisation begins
On the same visit, Prime Minister Tarique Rahman laid the foundation stone of a Tk 4,068 crore project — about US$335.78 million (yaani roughly 33.6 crore dollars) — to expand and modernise Mongla Port, The Business Standard reported. The four-year project, centred on the Jetty No. 9 area, will build two new container jetties, a container handling yard, a separate yard for hazardous goods and install 49 pieces of equipment.
Source: The Business Standard
The Prime Minister flew to Mongla by helicopter on Thursday morning for the daylong Bagerhat-Khulna programme; his office had scheduled the MoU ceremony for 10 a.m. and the foundation-stone ceremony for 10:30 a.m.
Speaking around the visit, Tarique Rahman said his government would take initiatives to establish more industries in Mongla and would move quickly to build the infrastructure needed to ensure adequate electricity and gas supplies from Mongla to Bangladesh's northern region, as he sought greater Chinese investment in industrial and infrastructure development.
Source: The Business Standard
The Mongla push sits on groundwork laid earlier this year: a separate MoU for the proposed Bangladesh-China Mongla Economic Zone — a site of about 110 acres — was signed in Beijing on 25 June 2026, and CRCC Chairman Dai Hegen and Invest Bangladesh Chairman Ashik Chowdhury were scheduled to visit that site around Thursday's signing.
What happens next: under the framework, CRCC and its subsidiaries are expected to carry out feasibility work and identify viable projects in the listed sectors. Any actual investment will depend on those studies and on separate project agreements — none has been announced yet.