US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu said that the United States wants to strengthen its ties with Bangladesh.
At a press meet yesterday, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he said, "We want to look forward and not back. We want to find ways to strengthen our relations. So, today I spoke to the foreign minister about working on our hard issues”.
“We have a lot of hard issues. Such as the RAB sanctions, labour reforms, human rights, and business climate reforms. In order to work on hard issues, we want to build up cooperation on positive issues,” he told at a press briefing after a meeting with Foreign Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday.
"Last year, there were a lot of tensions between Bangladesh and the US. The US feels and works very hard to promote free, fair and non-violent elections here and it caused some tensions. This is common in our relationship," he said.
He also said they discussed new investment, the possibility of more Bangladeshi students studying in the US and how to work together in clean energy.
The United States wants to rebuild the trust between the people of the US and Bangladesh, he added.
Meanwhile, after the meeting, Foreign Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud said, that Donald Lu`s visit is to improve relations with Bangladesh.
“Therefore, in the meeting, the relationship between the two countries was discussed. I have asked for cooperation to face the various challenges of Bangladesh,” hen said.
”US wants Bangladesh to return GSP benefits for investment in 40 IT industries, which will be after the revision of labour law. For increasing our foreign currency reserve, the US will provide asistance through their Development Finance Corporation,” he infor,ed.
He said that the United States has been asked to send the Rohingyas back to Myanmar. Emphasis is placed on restoring peace to Gaza. The United States has agreed to this. They also want a permanent ceasefire. In another question of the journalists, the foreign minister said that there was no discussion about elections and human rights. The ban on RAB was not discussed in the meeting. As the banning process was time-consuming, so will it.
Hasan Mahmud said that there was a discussion about Bangladeshi students getting opportunities to study in the United States. He (Donald Lu) discussed this. We have proposed to establish exchange programs with our universities
Briefing reporters after the meeting at the Secretariat with visiting US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu yesterday, Environment, Forest, and Climate Change Minister Saber Hossain Chowdhury said, the discussions explored avenues to bolster the relationship between Bangladesh and the United States.
”The dialogue revolved around advancing the existing bilateral ties without dwelling on past issues,” he said.
"The discussions primarily centred on strategies to tackle the impacts of climate change, environmental conservation, and forestry. We also discussed the formation of long term action plans spanning three to five years," the minister said.
Regarding climate finance, Saber Hossain asserted that the role of the Multilateral Development Bank (MDB) in addressing the effects of climate change is now a crucial issue.
"In the past, billions of dollars were needed to combat the effects of climate change. Now it has soared to a trillion-dollar range. Therefore, the Bangladesh government is putting more emphasis on research," he said.
Underscoring the shared priority of addressing climate change, both Saber Hossain and Donald Lu pledged to continue the collaboration, with a particular emphasis on identifying sectors requiring assistance.
"Climate change is a priority for both the countries. How to deal with it and the strategy to combat it was discussed today. However, we will sit again to determine the sectors that need help," Saber said.
According to the minister, Donald Lu stressed the importance of ensuring that future investment in the environment and climate initiative benefit the marginalised people.
Emphasising the need for capacity building, Saber said, "Bangladesh seeks to engage not only in financial support but also in capacity building endeavours. We are keen on advancing research and innovation in both manpower and technology."
Saber also proposed utilising NASA`s climate satellite for real-time data collection, which will remove the need for deploying additional satellites, thus reducing costs and enhancing efficiency.
