US ice melting?
The relations between the US and Bangladesh have apparently begun to thaw, about 10 months after the January 5 polls that Washington termed deeply flawed.
Not a single word was raised about the elections at the third US-Bangladesh Partnership Dialogue in Washington on October 28-29 and bilateral meetings on its sidelines, according to a highly placed diplomatic source.
The two countries only discussed the ways to strengthen cooperation, while the US side was “exceptionally friendly and warm”.
“Usually the US side tries to grill us but this time their attitude was highly supportive and cooperative,” a Bangladeshi diplomat, who attended the partnership dialogue and sideline meetings, told The Daily Star yesterday.
The two sides also agreed on exchange visits of two foreign ministers in couple of months, a development that diplomatic circle deemed significant.
“I am extremely hopeful about a return visit by John Kerry to Dhaka early next year,” said the diplomat.
“After these two visits, there will definitely be an official visit by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to hold talks with US President Barack Obama at the Oval Office.”
Hasina is yet to receive any invitation from the US for a bilateral meeting with Obama since she assumed office for the second time in 2009. The last high-level meeting was held between Secretary Kerry and former foreign minister Dipu Moni on May 17, 2013.
The ties between the two countries went from bad to worse over a period of three years. The US did not like the way the government handled Prof Muhammad Yunus and his Grameen Bank.
After the one-sided January 5 polls, boycotted by the BNP and its allies, Washington called for dialogue as soon as possible to “agree on new elections that are free, fair, peaceful, and credible, reflecting the will of Bangladeshi people”.
The Bangladeshi diplomat said the US side didn't touch upon the issues of January 5 polls, fresh or early election and dialogue. It seemed they didn't want to look back, he added.
“To me it's a major policy shift of the US,” said the high official, who has been handling the US side for the past few years. “The US side has been holding meetings at the bureaucrat level, but now it has agreed to hold political level dialogue.”
The US side also agreed to fix a bilateral meeting of Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali, he added.
Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque and US Under Secretary for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman led their high profile delegations at the partnership dialogue.
On the sidelines, the foreign secretary had bilateral meetings with US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Nisha Desai Biswal, Deputy United States Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Holleyman and Assistant USTR Michael J Delaney.
Wendy Sherman termed Bangladesh a role model for attaining the MDG goals and other achievements in socio-economic field.
The USTR's officials lauded Bangladesh's progress in RMG sector since the deadly Rana Plaza building collapse one and a half years ago.
The US officials also acknowledged that the security cooperation between the two countries also grew in past 17 months.
The Bangladeshi diplomat said during the two-day US-Bangladesh meetings, the two sides had a broad spectrum discussion of bilateral issues, including sustainable development, climate change, migration, scientific and technological cooperation, cyber security, regional integration, blue economy, energy cooperation, peacekeeping operations, counter-terrorism, education and cultural links.
He said the US side did not raise any specific issue of ISIS at the talks after Dhaka turned down a recent US proposal to join its coalition in the war against the militant group.
Finally, he said the US-Bangladesh meeting was “a big success….it was an intense and comprehensive meeting and a highly positive momentum initiated with the US following this partnership dialogue”.
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