Partnership talks with US begin today

Bangladesh and the United States begin a two-day partnership dialogue in Washington DC today to discuss further deepening of security, trade and development ties between the two countries.
Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Mohamed Mijarul Quayes is leading the Bangladesh delegation of 15 members drawn up from different ministries while Wendy Sherman, US under secretary of state for political affairs, will lead the US delegation at the dialogue.
First of its kind, the dialogue is being held following the signing of a joint declaration on Bangladesh-US Partnership Dialogue on May 5 in Dhaka during US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit here.
Food security, maternal and child health, family planning, climate change, strengthening of democracy, youth and women's empowerment and other issues will come up for discussion, diplomatic sources said.
The US is likely to discuss signing of Trade and Investment Cooperation Framework Agreement, a trade pact that has remained unsettled for the last four years over labour standard issues in Bangladesh.
On security issues, the two sides will discuss cooperation in combating terrorism, counter-terrorism, military-to-military cooperation, violent extremism and transnational crime.
Human rights, civil society, democracy, women's empowerment, Grameen Bank, role of the media, etc will figure in the development agenda.