"As the friendly close neighbour of Bangladesh, China is very much concerned about the developments in Bangladesh," said new Chinese Ambassador Zheng Qingdian, who sees a lot of potential of this country to develop.

In an interview with the news agency yesterday, he said: "We sincerely hope that the peace, stability and development of the country could be safeguarded in the interest of its people."

Qingdian, who took up his ambassadorial assignment two months ago, said they appreciate the government's strong determination to develop economy and improve people's lifestyle.

"Bangladesh has a large potential market with huge population and low-price skilled labour," he said, adding that the Chinese government will always encourage Chinese companies to do trade and make investment here.

Asked if China would consider more trade facilities for Bangladesh to reduce an about $ 2 billion trade deficit, the envoy said his government takes the issue of trade imbalance with Bangladesh seriously and has made substantial effort to solve the problem.

Qingdian mentioned that his country has granted tariff-free access to 84 items and preferential tariff treatment to 156 other items of Bangladesh within the framework of the Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement.

"More tariff reduction plans are on the way and we will encourage more Chinese enterprises to come to invest in Bangladesh."

The ambassador said the Chinese vice-minister for commerce would be visiting Dhaka next month to discuss trade and economic cooperation between the two countries.

Replying to a question, he said the Chinese companies have already made investment in power, textile, telecommunications as well as many private sectors in Bangladesh.

"The rising manufacturing industries in Bangladesh are attracting Chinese investors to this country. And the Chinese government is keen to see such investment to be mutually beneficial to both Bangladesh and Chinese people."

On the planned highway link between Teknaf and Kunming through Myanmar, he said China in principle supports the proposal for building the tri-nation highway. He welcomed the recently signed Bangladesh-Myanmar MoU on the project.

Asked about China's cooperation in facing the global warming, a critical issue for Bangladesh, the envoy said China and Bangladesh can forge cooperation in this area as both the developing countries are facing the same problems of floods and droughts.

About Dhaka-Beijing military cooperation, Qingdian said the relations between the armed forces of the two countries have been "always perfect". "We have exchanged defence delegations from time to time, and cooperation in every project is going well."