Bangladesh
Bangladesh Elections US lauds Prime Minister's commitment to fair elections
Dhaka, May 4: The United States has praised Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's clear commitment to ensure free and fair elections. Besides, the country has also praised the international observers for opening the way to observe the election of Bangladesh.
The 9th Bangladesh-US Partnership Dialogue was held in Washington DC on Wednesday (May 3) local time. The dialogue held at the US State Department discussed important bilateral and global issues of mutual interest.
Foreign Secretary Masoud Bin Momen and US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Ambassador Victoria Nuland led their respective delegations.
During the dialogue, Foreign Secretary Momen informed his US counterpart about the various steps taken by the Election Commission to pave the way for free and fair elections at both the local and national levels. Besides, Bangladesh Foreign Secretary shared some positive progress of recent human rights activities in Bangladesh.
In response, the US side appreciated the clear commitment of the Prime Minister of Bangladesh regarding free and fair elections as well as opening the way for international election observers to observe the elections.
The Foreign Secretary informed the US side about the Prime Minister's visit to Japan and Washington to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the partnership between Bangladesh and the World Bank. He also shared the outline of Bangladesh's recently released Indo-Pacific vision.
On the other hand, US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Ambassador Nuland mentioned the areas of commonality between the two countries in their respective Indo-Pacific documents.
The Foreign Secretary reiterated the call for lifting the ban on RAB and handing over Rashed Chowdhury, the self-confessed killer of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. On the other hand, Ambassador Nuland expressed satisfaction with the Bangladesh government's announcement to review the Digital Security Act within this year. He emphasized the importance of continued progress with labor sector reforms to attract increased investment from the United States.
Both sides expressed satisfaction at the growing and vibrant business cooperation in several key sectors. They agreed to further work on cyber security and data protection to increase the business engagement of US tech giants in Bangladesh.
