Lauding Bangladesh’s tremendous progress in different vital sectors during the last couple of years, outgoing US Ambassador to Bangladesh Dan W Mozena yesterday said that the country had huge potentials to grow up as a developed nation.
“During my three-year tenure, I observed tremendous progress of the country’s most important apparel, tannery, generic pharmaceuticals and IT sectors which can help make Bangladesh a developed country in future,” he added.
Speaking at a pre-departure press conference at American Club in Gulshan here, Mozena said the country needs transformation to the apparel sector by ensuring labour rights and their safety in work place.
Mozena, who has been serving in Bangladesh since May 2011 as the US Ambassador, is set to leave Bangladesh this month as Marcia Stephens Bloom Bernicat is going to succeed him.
The US envoy said along with ensuring progress in economic sector, the country needs “Education revolution” with the aim of ensuring quality education in classrooms to cope with the modern world.
He said Bangladesh has hundreds and thousands of teachers who have passion to teach students, but due to lack of infrastructures and other facilities they could not provide quality education to the children.
Mozena also praised tremendous development in the country’s agri-sector that helped Bangladesh turn into a food sufficient one. “The development in agriculture is “amazing”, as how Bangladesh, a food deficit country was turned into a food surplus one,” he added.
In this context, he gave credit to the people of the country who are hard working and resilient and the government as well for taking pragmatic measurers to boost agricultural production.
Referring to his visit in 64 districts across the country, he said that he had seen with his own eyes as how Bangladesh has achieved progress almost in every sector.
“I never like to say Bangladesh as a poor country rather, I want to say Bangladesh a prosperous country that has thousands of hard working and resilient people to carry forward the country towards development,” he observed.
The envoy thanked the government for providing allout support during his tenure as ambassador and facilitating his visits in every nook and cranny of the country.
Regarding Bangladesh-US relations, he said America’s partnership with Bangladesh is now broader, deeper and stronger than ever and it goes from “strength to strength” with each passing day.
“Our partnership truly strengthens each day to the benefit of the people of both the countries,” he added.
He said the partnership helps make Bangladesh historic achievements like slashing maternal and child mortality, reducing fertility rate, increasing food security, mitigating for the effect of climate change, strengthening diplomatic institutions, enhancing security and bolstering preparedness to respond to disaster.
The envoy said the partnership is also helping the police transform the philosophy of policing to one based on engagement with the community and it also is working with the RAB to introduce office.
Responding to a question, he said his country backs no political force in Bangladesh’s political race as it focuses on deepening partnership between the two countries.
He said institutionalizing partnership between the two countries is one of the significant achievements in his three-year tenure in Bangladesh.