Asserting that Bangladesh has an impressive record economic development, and respect for democracy, the United States on Tuesday said that it looks forward to working with the ruling government of the country.
“The United States and Bangladesh have a long history of cooperation and a vision for a tolerant, democratic Bangladesh that strengthens its democratic institutions, respects human rights, and seeks to improve its governing structures and institutions,” State Department Deputy Spokesperson Robert Palladino told reporters at his biweekly news conference.
Bangladesh, he said, has impressive record of economic development, respect for democracy, freedom of expression, and human rights. “These are not competing objectives and these would in fact reinforce economic growth,” he said.
“So United States looks forward to continuing to work with the ruling government as well as the opposition to continue to advance these interrelated goals,” Palladino said.
The Deputy Spokesperson was responding to a question on a recently released Human Rights Report stated that Bangladesh election was not considered free and fair.
“We recently released our Human Rights Report and we noted that the December 2018 election was not free and it was not fair given widespread reports of irregularities, including ballot box stuffing and intimidation of opposition polling agents and voters,” Palladino said.