Bangladesh Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque is all set to have a series of meetings with officials at the White House, State Department and the Pentagon next week.

Political relations, trade, energy, labour, counter-terrorism, defence cooperation, Rohingya crisis and Indo-Pacific Strategy will dominate the talks in Washington between Jan 22 and 24, according to Dhaka officials.

Political relations

The recently held national election is likely to be discussed between Foreign Secretary Haque and David Hale, State Department Under Secretary for Political Affairs on Jan 22.

“The election was held recently and it is not a surprise that as a friendly country, Washington must have curiosity about it,” said a foreign ministry official.

In its post-election, Washington said it would work with the government and the opposition, he added.

“We will engage with them on all issues including human rights,” he said.

Trade

In the last fiscal the bilateral trade was $6.68 billion in which US import is about $5 billion with the weighted average duty of Bangladeshi products for the US market over 15 percent.

Out of the total US import, Bangladesh shares only 0.23 percent. But, interestingly out of total US customs duty earnings, it contributes 2.54 percent.

“It is an uneven structure and we would request them to reduce the duty,” said another official.

In addition, Bangladesh wants US investments in real sector, he said before adding: “They can invest in Special Economic Zones and dedicated US economic zone.”

Bangladesh already has special economic zone for Japanese, Indian, Chinese and South Korean investments and the US companies have similar facility, he added.

Energy

US investments in Bangladesh historically focus on energy and power covering roughly around 80 percent of its portfolio. 

Chevron, Unocol and ConocoPhillips are the major players in this field. Chevron alone has invested so far over $3 billion.

“We have about 40 offshore and onshore blocks to be offered to prospective companies and we encourage US oil companies to participate in the race,” said a foreign ministry official.

US energy companies, like Scimitar, Occidental and ConocoPhilips worked in Bangladesh and Dhaka wants more such companies to invest, he added.

Dhaka and Washington have robust cooperation in counter-terrorism and will continue to work on the issue, said the official.

On the Rohingya issue, he said, “From the very beginning, Washington is helping us to resolve the crisis.”

Dhaka will seek US support to have a strong UN Security Council resolution and to mount pressure on Myanmar to take back its citizens, who fled to Bangladesh, he added.

Washington has a vision about Indo-Pacific region and it was shared with Bangladesh, another official said. “The top political leadership is aware of it and we have no objection to the vision.”

About defence cooperation, he said, the US has proposed to sign a Logistic Service Agreement, which is pending with us.