Trade and investment, security and defence, regional issues including Rohingya and sectoral cooperation will dominate Bangladesh-US partnership dialogue.



The seventh dialogue will be held in Washington on Monday when Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque and US State Department Under Secretary for Political Affairs David Hale will co-chair the meeting.
“Trade, investment, Rohingya and other bilateral and regional issues will come up in the discussion,” said the foreign secretary prior to his leaving to Washington.
Shahidul had meetings with Hale and other US officials and think-tank in January, just after the national election in which ruling Awami League secured a landslide victory.
Another official seeking anonymity said, “Dhaka wants to expand business cooperation with Washington with a special focus on energy and infrastructure due to its strategic location.”
The United States is the single largest investor in Bangladesh and also the largest export destination, he said.
“Bangladesh has already offered one of the 100 special economic zones for the US investors exclusively,” he added.
Security and defence
Bangladesh wants to expand defence ties with the US as it wants to be a strong partner in the Indo-Pacific Strategic Vision envisaged by Washington.
Another official said Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen has recently written a letter to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in which he expressed his desire to expand energy and defence ties in the future.
“Security and defence issue is one of the core elements of our bilateral relationship and we discuss it on a regular basis at meetings of different levels,” he said.
Pompeo declared $40 million maritime security fund for Bangladesh last June and both the governments have initiated the process to exhaust the money.
He said Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA) and General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) are the two defence related instruments that were proposed by the US side and both the parties are negotiating on deals, he said.
Regional issue
Rohingya, regional and global counter-terrorism situation, North Korea and Iran, and other issues will also be discussed in the dialogue.
“Dhaka and Washington are on the same page in resolving Rohingya crisis and the US is the single largest donor for the stateless people who are the worst sufferers of the Myanmar-sponsored marginalization,” said another official.
Terrorism is a problem for all the countries and Bangladesh and the US work closely to counter the menace, he said.
Washington has taken a position on North Korea and Iran and it wants other countries to support its view and Dhaka is likely to stick to its foreign policy vision – ‘friendship to all, malice to none,’ he added.