The foreign minister is leaving for Beijing at the invitation of Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing, official sources said.

Talking to the diplomatic correspondents yesterday, Director General of External Publicity Wing Zahirul Haque said the two foreign ministers will review the progress of the 14 agreements and MoUs (Memorandum of Understanding) signed during the Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's visit to Dhaka in April 2005 and Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's return visit to Beijing in August the same year.

The talks would cover Chinese financial and technical assistance to Bangladesh, installation of digital telephone exchange, water treatment plant at Pagla in Narayanganj, North Dhaka sewerage plant and establishment of friendship exhibitions and green house centre in Dhaka, he added.

Besides, Morshed Khan and Li Zhaoxing will discuss trade and investment with particular reference to trade imbalance against Dhaka, duty-free access of Bangladeshi products, transfer of technology, peaceful use of nuclear energy, cooperation in agriculture sector, construction of Kunming-Chittagong road, water resource management, defence cooperation and Saarc affairs.

According to an official estimate, in 2004, the Sino-Bangladesh bilateral trade volume reached $1.96 billion. By June 2005, the contracted mutual investment between the two countries hit $94 million and China's contract volume for project construction and labour services in Bangladesh reached $3.24 billion.

Replying to a question, Zahirul Haque said Bangladesh and China have good relations in training military personnel under the defence cooperation. He, however, declined to say anything about any discussion on purchase of military hardware from China, a traditional exporter of military equipment to Bangladesh.

He said "improvement" of socio-economic condition in Bangladesh, law and order, combating terrorism and corruption and reaching the targets of MDGs will also come up for discussion.

Both the foreign ministers will also exchange views on regional and international issues of common interest. Earlier, the foreign secretaries of Bangladesh and China held the 8th bilateral consultations in Beijing in April this year.

Foreign Minister Morshed Khan is scheduled to deliver a keynote speech at a seminar on "China and South Asia: Emerging Relations and Role of Bangladesh" at Chinese Academy of Social Science today.

He will also call on Chinese premier Wen Jiabao and State Councillor Tang Jiaxuan during his visit.