Dhaka briefs Washington on priorities

Bangladesh has briefed the USA in Washington about priorities of the government to maintain a stable, prosperous and democratic country. Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque met with senior US State Department officials including the Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, Nisha Desai Biswal on Tuesday and briefed them on the issues – law and order, economic advancement and growth in business, democracy and good governance and regional integration, security and stability, Ticfa, RMG, etc. During the meeting, Nisha Biswal and Shahidul Haque exchanged views about a wide range of issues involving the priorities of the Bangladesh government, labour rights and other pertinent issues, and role of Dhaka in regional integration and goodwill efforts among countries of South and East Asia. Referring to the hearing at the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations held on Feb 11, Nisha Biswal said that she wanted to portray US-BD relations to the Senate Committee in a balanced manner within a broader context, said a Foreign Ministry media release on Wednesday. She said though the January 5 parliamentary polls has a low turnout, the US would continue to remain engaged with the government of Bangladesh working towards a stable, prosperous and a democratic country.
About Ticfa, the US side has confirmed the dates for the first council meeting of Ticfa in Dhaka on April 7-8. In terms of US’ broader economic engagement with Bangladesh, in late January, the US-Bangladesh Trade and Investment Cooperation Forum Agreement (Ticfa) entered into force. Meanwhile, the third US-BD Security Dialogue will be held in Dhaka on Apr 16 and the third US-BD Partnership Dialogue will be held in Washington DC in mid June. Shahidul Haque welcomed Deputy Assistant Secretary Atul Keshap for his visit to Dhaka in late February. Keshap is likely to be in Dhaka on Feb 22 on a two-day visit. At the meeting with Nisha Biswal, which was followed by a luncheon, the Foreign Secretary was accompanied by Bangladesh Ambassador to USA Akramul Qader; Muhammad Abdul Muhith, Deputy Chief of Mission; and M Mahfuzur Rahman, Director General (Americas), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dhaka. Atul Keshap, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs accompanied Biswal at the meeting. Regarding RMG, the Foreign Secretary had a joint meeting with the officials of the USTR (United States Trade Representative), Department of Labour and the Bureau of International Labour Affairs and briefed them on the progress concerning the rights of the workers and workplace safety in the RMG sector in Bangladesh and also exchanged views on the potential of strengthening of trade and investment relations between the two countries, according to UNB.