US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Donald Lu on Wednesday said that his two-day visit to Bangladesh was an effort to try to rebuild trust between people of two countries.
The US point person for South Asia was talking to reporters after his meeting with Foreign Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud at the latter's office.
This is his third visit to Bangladesh in 17 months, first after the January 7 general election that the US criticized.
Lu said: "Last year, we know there were a lot of tensions between the United States and Bangladesh. The US worked very hard to promote free, fair, and nonviolent elections here, and it caused some tensions.”
Donald Lu highlights importance of adaptation, protection of coastal peopleSaying that it is very common in two countries’ relationship, the US assistant secretary of state said: “We want to look forward and not look back."
He said: "We want to find ways to strengthen our relationship. And so, I spoke to the minister today about working on the hard things.
"In our relationship, we have lots of hard issues..RAB sanctions...we have labor reforms. We have human rights and business classes reforms. But in order to work on the hard issues, we want to build up the cooperation we have on positive issues,” Lu explained.
The US official said: "We're talking about new investment. We're talking about the ability of more Bangladeshi students to study in the United States. And we're talking about how do we work together on clean energy.
"Lastly, one of the things I discussed with the minister was about the work that we are doing together to fight corruption. So much that we can do to promote transparency of government, to promote accountability of officials who may have committed acts of corruption.,” he said.
"And we recently were invited by the minister to help Bangladesh broaden its tax base so that all Bangladeshis are paying their fair share," Donald Lu added.
Before his arrival, the state department said he would meet with government officials, civil society leaders, and other Bangladeshis to discuss US-Bangladesh cooperation, including on addressing the climate crisis and deepening economic ties.
He met minister for climate change Saber Hossain Chowdhury, apart from the foreign minister.
The US embassy shared video of Lu tasting local fuchka and interacting with social media influencers.
He will also meet Bangladesh Cricket Board and some cricketers on Wednesday afternoon as the US is hosting the T20 World Cup.
With Bangladesh, Lu will conclude his tri-nation tour of the South Asian region on Wednesday. Earlier, he visited India and on Monday he was in Sri Lanka.
