Roundup:Bangladesh development activists hail China's charity law

Bangladeshi development activists on Thursday welcomed China's adoption of the charity law, saying that it will create a solid legal framework to ensure the healthy development of charity activities in China.

China's national lawmakers on Wednesday voted for the charity law at the closing meeting of the annual parliamentary session.

The new law, which was adopted at the annual legislative session and will take effect in September, eases restrictions on the fundraising and operational activities of charity groups, promises tax benefits for the sector, and will tighten supervision on their internal management.

"We highly appreciate the Chinese leadership and their further efforts to eliminate poverty through strengthening charity activities," Mahbubur Rashid, a senior Bangladeshi journalist who has decades of experiences in covering development activities, told Xinhua on Thursday.

He said the law will hopefully pave the way for more enterprises and wealthy people to extend more support to charity projects.

"I think charity boom in China will immensely benefit the world at large in the near future," said Rashid who has now been working at The Financial Express, a leading English daily.

Echoing Mahbubur Rashid, Jasim Katabi, director general of local development organization Green Belt Trust, told Xinhua that the law is surely a major step to encourage more enterprises and wealthy people to support more charity projects.

"Hope in near future more Chinese charity organizations could make more contributions to the poverty eradication drives in Bangladesh like countries around the world."

Safiul Azam, president of Dhaka-based voluntary organization The World Raymen, praised the law aimed at responding to public concerns.

"We think now we could work more closely with Chinese charities and enterprizes," Safiul Azam said to Xinhua.

Bangladesh development activists say charities can support people deep into the rural areas and help children of migrant workers with education and disaster relief.

A senior official of BRAC, a leading international NGO based in Bangladesh, said "Its great to learn that the Chinese government waived corporate income tax on donations made by companies from their profits."

The official who did not like to be named said the Chinese charity law will surely be example for governments elsewhere in the world. Endit