Recently, the China-Bangladesh Port Construction and Water Safety Technology Exchange Conference was successfully held. The conference was initiated by the China-Bangladesh Port Construction Joint Research Center and hosted by Tianjin Water Transport Engineering Research Institute. As the expert of water safety technology, HWTT has undertaken the co-organization work.
The conference was held in the form of online video. Technical exchanges and discussions were carried out on the topics of port and coastal development and construction, water resources utilization and drinking water safety guarantee. Nearly 100 experts and representatives from Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Bureau, Bangladesh Planning Commission Project Department, Bangladesh Electric Power Development Bureau, Chittagong Port Authority, Dhaka University of Engineering and Technology, China's China Communications Port， Zhejiang Electric Power Institute and other Chinese-funded enterprises attended the meeting.
The safety of drinking water in Bangladesh has become a serious constraint on the country's development. According to a survey conducted by the World Health Organization in 2019, 20 million people in Bangladesh are at risk of arsenic contamination in drinking water, and 43,000 people die from arsenic-related diseases every year. In addition, there are also serious impact of other pollution such as excessive E. coli and heavy metals. According to the Ministry of Commerce of China, the central bank of Bangladesh issued Sukuk Islamic bonds for the first time at the end of 2020, raising 80 billion taka (about 6.15 billion yuan) of funds to implement a nationwide safe drinking water project. On December 22, the Central Bank of Bangladesh and the Bangladesh Ministry of Finance signed a special memorandum on this cooperation.
As the leader of China's membrane water treatment technology, HWTT has rich experience in drinking water treatment equipment, engineering, and operation & maintenance. At the meeting, HWTT delivered a keynote speech on the status and safety of drinking water in Bangladesh, and introduced solutions to improve the status of local drinking water, which attracted the attention of experts and representatives participating in the meeting.
This meeting has deepened the technical exchanges between participating units and formed a broad consensus on cooperation, which is of great significance for in-depth cooperation in engineering and project in the future.