Partnership Dialogue: US lauds Bangladesh's tremendous economic growth

The US under secretary of state for political affairs has lauded Bangladesh's tremendous economic growth and its positive trajectory for an even brighter economic future.

Under Secretary Victoria Nuland said this during the US-Bangladesh 9th Partnership Dialogue co-chaired by her and Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen in Washington DC yesterday.

Washington also reiterated the importance of free and fair elections, and its commitment to promoting human rights, labour rights, and freedom of expression in Bangladesh, according to a State Department statement issued after the dialogue.

State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said both sides reiterated their commitment to a growing partnership across a range of political, economic, environmental, and security issues.

Under Secretary Nuland thanked Bangladesh for hosting Rohingya refugees and highlighted the strong people-to-people ties between the US and Bangladesh.

Momen briefed Nuland about Bangladesh's recently released Indo-Pacific Outlook and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to Japan and later to Washington DC to celebrate the 50 years of partnership between Bangladesh and the World Bank.

Nuland said Washington found convergence in a number of areas between the US's Indo-Pacific Strategy and Bangladesh's Indo-Pacific Outlook (IPO) launched just before the PM's Japan visit last month, said a foreign ministry statement.

According to the IPO, Bangladesh wants a free, open, peaceful, secure and inclusive Indo-Pacific for the prosperity of the region.

Masud Bin Momen and Victoria Nuland led their respective delegations at the dialogue held at the US Department of State.

Bangladesh Ambassador to the US Muhammad Imran, and senior officials from relevant ministries and the Bangladesh embassy in Washington were present at the meeting.

From the US side, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu, US Ambassador to Bangladesh Peter Haas and senior officials from the State Department, the White House and USAID were present.

Foreign Secretary Momen also briefed Nuland about various measures taken by Bangladesh's Election Commission to pave the way for free and fair elections at both local and national level.

The US side appreciated the PM's commitment to free and fair elections as well as openness to engage international election monitors.

Momen also shared some of the positive developments on Bangladesh's recent human rights performance and reiterated the call to lift the US sanctions on Rab, and extraditing Rashed Chowdhury, the self-confessed killer of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Nuland acknowledged Bangladesh's announcement to review the Digital Security Act by this year, while emphasising the importance of continuing progress in labour sector reform in order to attract enhanced investment from the US.

Both sides expressed satisfaction at the growing and vibrant business cooperation in a number of critical sectors. They agreed to continue working further on cyber security and data protection to enhance business engagements by the US tech giants in Bangladesh.

Nuland appreciated Bangladesh's generosity in hosting the Rohingyas from Myanmar and gave assurances of the US's continued humanitarian support.

Momen briefed her about the latest status of funding for the Rohingya response as well as the renewed pilot scheme for repatriating a limited number of Rohingyas to Myanmar.

Both sides agreed to further scale up the resettlement programme for some of the most vulnerable Rohingyas.

The two sides exchanged their views on climate change-related issues and discussed areas of cooperation in this regard.

Momen invited Nuland to the 10th round of the Partnership Dialogue which will take place in Dhaka next year.