The United States has earmarked $40 million under its Indo-Pacific strategy for Bangladesh as it considers Dhaka has an important role to play in it.
The Indo-Pacific Strategy issue was discussed when Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque had a meeting with US State Department Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Alice G Wells at the foreign ministry Sunday.
“Washington wanted to know the position of Dhaka about the strategy,” the foreign secretary said after the meeting.
About two years ago, the US, Japan, Australia and India popularly known as ‘Quad’ introduced the strategy and Bangladesh was involved in the negotiation from the beginning, he said. “They updated us about the strategy.”
The US was told that Bangladesh was considering the plan as it’s still at its primitive stage, added Haque.
The foreign secretary said a new world order centring Asia is emerging and the US and other countries want to know how Bangladesh perceives the entire issue. “Our today’s discussion dominated the new world order issue.”
Meanwhile, Alice G Wells at a press briefing in Washington on Aug 20 revealed that Bangladesh would receive $40 million that focuses on maritime security, humanitarian assistance and disaster response, peacekeeping capabilities, and countering transnational crime.
It will enhance the capacity of Bangladesh to share shipping information with other partners in the region such as India to improve detection and response to emerging threats, she said.
By helping countries like Bangladesh improve their maritime domain awareness capabilities, we can facilitate easier and more secure commerce from the Bay of Bengal to Pacific markets, including the American market, she added.
“All the nations of South Asia have expanding populations, dynamic economies, and ambitions of their own to promote a free and open Indo-Pacific, and we look forward to discussing with these countries how this contribution can support the Bay of Bengal.”
In response to a question, Wells said: “Bangladesh has an important role to play in the Indo-Pacific strategy.”
US energy giant Chevron is the single largest foreign direct investor in Bangladesh as it is a country with a growing and dynamic economy, she said.
Wells said Quad is one of the several diplomatic architectures the US is using to promote the Indo-Pacific strategy.
She, however, said the strategy is for everyone, and it’s about underscoring a series of norms and a commitment to both the free and the open, and it’s not locked into any one format.