Dhaka - China and Bangladesh agreed Thursday to step up bilateral economic and trade relations based on decades of close political ties between them, officials said.

The agreement came after formal talks between visiting China's Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and senior functionaries in the interim government, a Bangladeshi foreign ministry spokesman said.

Issues related to recent developments in Tibet and the upcoming Beijing Olympics were also discussed at the official talks between Yang and Bangladesh's Foreign Affairs Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury.

At a press briefing after the talks Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Touhid Hossain said Bangladesh endorsed the one-China policy of Beijing and considered the recent incidents in Tibet as an internal matter of China.

Yang arrived in Dhaka Thursday at the start of a two-day visit to Bangladesh highlighted by the signing of an exchange of notes between the two countries on building a permanent exhibition centre for the display of Bangladeshi goods in the capital city.

The centre, which would be constructed with Chinese funds and technologies, will be handed over to Bangladesh as a gift like previous China-built conference facilities in Dhaka, official sources said. (dpa)