Bangladesh hotspot for regional connectivity:US

A strategic location and wealth of natural resources places Bangladesh in a position to develop “tremendous” commercial ties with the rest of Asia, Washington's point person for South Asia has said. Nisha Desai Biswal made this observation while saying the US supported India’s greater economic connectivity with regional countries “to boost regional stability and prosperity”. The US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia said an Asia that boasts of democratic governance, “transparency and free market economics will offer 4.3 billion people the best opportunity to pursue happiness and realize their aspirations”. In order to make this happen, she said in a lecture in New Delhi on Thursday, countries in the region would have to work across boundaries. “The United States is very interested in supporting that vision and in supporting India’s economic connections both west into Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia; and in the east with Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Southeast Asia,” she said. Biswal, the Indian-American Assistant Secretary of State, is on her first visit to India in her current capacity. This is the first top-level US visit after the recent India-US spat over the treatment meted out to Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade in New York. She held talks with senior officials and both sides reaffirmed the priority attached to their bilateral strategic partnership, according to bdnews24.com.