Dhaka’s message to improve bilateral relationship with Washington was responded positively by the US Administration.
It, however, wants to see how Bangladesh improves its governance situation in the coming days.
Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque had a series of meetings in Washington on Tuesday (Jan 22) when he met USAID Administrator Mark Green and US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Ambassador David Hale.
The visiting foreign secretary also had meetings with the Ambassador Alice Wells, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, South and Central Asia Bureau; Ambassador Michael Kozak, Office Chief, Bureau of Democracy, Rights and Labour; Acting Assistant Secretary Carol Thomson O’Connell, Population, Refugee and Migration Bureau; Ambassador at Large John Cotton Richmond, Office Chief, Trafficking in person and Ambassador at Large Nathan Sales, Counterterrorism Bureau and Counterterrorism Coordinator.
“We had very productive meetings where we discussed about our future collaboration,” Foreign Secretary Haque told Bangla Tribune.
The US side has assured us that the relationship would be deeper and engagement will be widened, he said.
Trade, energy, politics, Rohingya, migration and many other issues were discussed in the meetings, he said.
The secretary said, “The government is developing special economic zones and US investors can invest there and take benefits of the privileges offered by Bangladesh.”
Washington is one of our biggest trading partner and we discussed about prospect and how we can address the challenges, he said.
It is mentionable here that in the last fiscal the bilateral trade was $6.68 billion in which US import is about $5 billion with 15percent weighted average duty of Bangladeshi products for the US market over 15 percent. However, out of the total US import, Bangladesh shares only 0.23 percent. But, out of total US customs duty earnings, it contributes 2.54 percent.
The foreign secretary said, “I am going to have several other meetings at White House and Pentagon and expect to have good discussion.”
Haque will also attend a discussion at the Heritage Foundation, a renowned think-tank.
Meanwhile, an official seeking anonymity said, politics and good governance issues came up in the meetings.
“We just had the national election and they wanted to know about it,” he said.
In good governance, both Dhaka and Washington have convergence and want to work together to have a substantial progress in the coming days, he said.
Meanwhile, a foreign ministry press release said, at the meetings the foreign secretary pointed out that immediately after the formation of the new cabinet, the priority identified by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for the new government is good governance- primarily zero-tolerance against corruption.
Haque stated that USA being Bangladesh’s great friend and development partner, the present government looks forward to expanding the existing friendly ties in a multi-sectoral context.
Referring to the Rohingya crisis, Shahidul Haque noted that the recent internal situation in Northern Rakhine is aggravating the prolonged problem.
He said that, it is the responsibility of the Myanmar authorities to create the right condition so that all the Rohingyas currently staying in Bangladesh feel safe to go back to Myanmar. He sought US support in resolving the crisis.
In response, the US officials termed Bangladesh as a partner that highly matters to them and assured full support towards the solution of the Rohingya crisis.
They were appreciative of the present government’s commitment and various initiatives to nab corruption, combat terrorism and prevent trafficking in person.
Bangladesh Ambassador to the USA, Mohammad Ziauddin and senior officials from the ministry and Bangladesh Embassy in Washington accompanied the foreign secretary during the meetings.