US Ambassador in Dhaka Dan Mozena yesterday narrated Washington’s vision about connectivity between China and central Asia, where Bangladesh is in the middle.
“The Indo-Pacific economic corridor generates a lot of interest because President Obama and the US government believe that one of the great trade routes of the 21st century will be the Indo-Pacific economic corridor,” said the ambassador at a meet-the-press programme in the city.
“The Indo-Pacific economic corridor links central Asia, south Asia, with China, with Singapore and with the world, and in the middle of all of that is Bangladesh,” he said.
Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar (BCIM) have already taken a separate initiative to boost regional connectivity to promote trade and economy in the region.
“Bangladesh in my vision would be a huge contributor to the flow of trade coursing through Indo-Pacific economic corridor. So that is an issue that looms very large,” Mozena said.
In a testimony last year, former assistant secretary of the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs Robert O Blake said: “This emerging ‘Indo-Pacific Economic Corridor’ is not just a boon for the region; it also provides American businesses with substantial new markets.”
At the chiefs of mission conference in Washington this March, US ambassadors around the globe discussed about the importance of trade and economic policy in pursuing foreign policy, Mozena said.
“Of course in that context me and others talked about Indo-Pacific economic corridor, which looms huge, in my eyes, in the development of Bangladesh,” the ambassador said.
About Bangladesh-US bilateral relation, Mozena said partnership dialogue, security dialogue, Ticfa and military dialogue were the four important engines of engagement.
The third security dialogue and the first Trade and Investment Cooperation Forum Agreement (Ticfa) meeting will be held this month and the third partnership dialogue will be held in June.