‘Will rebuild trust, won’t look back’

In an apparent policy reset, Washington is seeking to rebuild the trust in its relations with Dhaka following tensions in the run-up to the January 7 national polls.

“I’ve visited Bangladesh these last two days in order to try to rebuild the trust between our peoples,” Donald Lu, US assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia, told reporters after meeting Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud at the foreign ministry yesterday.

“Last year, we know there were a lot of tensions between the US and Bangladesh. The US worked very hard to promote a free, fair and nonviolent election here. And it caused some tensions. This is common in our relationship.

“We want to look forward and not look back. We want to find ways to strengthen our relationship.”

Lu arrived in Dhaka on Tuesday morning, held meetings with the civil society members and attended a Bangladeshi food festival at the American Club. He also attended a meeting over dinner at the residence of the Prime Minister’s Adviser on Private Industry and Investment Salman F Rahman.

Yesterday, he held meetings with young influencers, Environment Minister Saber Hossain Chowdhury and Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen before meeting Hasan Mahmud.

Donald Lu and US Ambassador Peter Haas also played cricket with Bangladesh national women’s team in a city field yesterday.

This is the highest level visit by any US delegation after the January 7 election.

In the lead-up to the polls last year, the Biden administration announced a visa policy — a second blow after sanctions on Rab and some of its officials in December 2021.

After the election, US President Joe Biden, however, had written a letter to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, committing to advance the ties.

About his meeting with Hasan Mahmud, Lu said he discussed working on the sanctions against Rab, labour reforms, human rights and business climate reforms – issues that had created rifts in the relationship.

“But in order to work on the hard issues, we want to build up the cooperation we have on positive issues,” he said, adding that they are talking about new investments, ability of more Bangladeshi students to study in the US, and clean energy.

He also discussed working together to fight corruption and support widening the tax base. Currently, only around 27 lakh people pay tax, which can be largely expanded.

“We want to promote transparency of governments, to promote accountability of officials who may have committed acts of corruption,” he said.

Speaking separately to reporters, Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud said they held a cordial discussion on deepening the US-Bangladesh relationship as Lu came here with a positive attitude.

He recognised the US’s contribution to the development of Bangladesh, as well as the fact that the US is the single largest destination of Bangladesh’s export and single largest source of foreign direct investment. It is also the biggest donor for the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.

Hasan Mahmud said Washington wants to provide funding to Bangladesh under the US International Finance Corporation to strengthen Bangladesh’s foreign currency reserve, which has been depleting.

Lu told him that Washington wants to restore the GSP facility, which was suspended in the aftermath of the Rana Plaza disaster in 2013, when the GSP was introduced, he said.

But the labour policy has to be reviewed for that, he added. “We are doing just that.”

He said he requested Lu to invest in some of the 40 IT villages that Bangladesh is developing and the special economic zones, and the US has expressed willingness to do so.

Hasan Mahmud also requested Washington’s support for trade facility until 2032 for the successful transition to a middle-income country after the LDC graduation in 2026.

He said the US universities can establish exchange programmes with Bangladeshi universities.

According to US officials and analysts, the US has a huge stake in Bangladesh for the former’s Indo-Pacific Strategy.

Washington wants Dhaka to sign two agreements — Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement on logistics and the General Security of Military Information Agreement — to advance their security and defense relationship.

Hasan Mahmud said there was no discussion on that, but on strengthening the security cooperation.

About withdrawal of the visa policy, the minister said, “The visa policy is dormant now.”

While meeting Saber Hossain Chowdhury, Donald Lu highlighted the US’s intention to offer free real-time satellite data for South Asia.

“This data will serve as a vital tool in monitoring the impact of climate change, including natural disasters, floods, pollution, and rising sea levels,” said the environment minister in a statement after the meeting at the secretariat.

He sought US collaboration in technology transfer, capacity building, smart agriculture, and green and climate technologies.

“To facilitate these endeavors, both parties agreed to establish a bilateral working group,” the statement said.