DHAKA, Sept 30, 2020 (BSS) – Bangladesh and the United States of America (USA) are looking forward to develop a vision for advancing the bilateral economic partnership between the two friendly countries in all potential areas.
This was revealed at the first ever High Level Economic Partnership Consultation between Bangladesh and the United States, held today at a virtual platform focusing on how to further enhance the overall economic partnership between Bangladesh and the US.
Prime Minister’s adviser for Private Industry and Investment Salman F Rahman, and US Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment Keith Krach co-chaired the meeting, a press release said here today.
During the meeting, both the co-chairs emphasized the need for close cooperation between the governments and industries to address the continually evolving challenges related health and economy during the current and post-COVID-19 global pandemic situation.
State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam, Bangladesh Ambassador to USA Mohammad Ziauddin, Principal Secretary to Prime Minister and senior officials from relevant ministries and departments of both the countries also attended the meeting.
Several important issues like investment, public health cooperation, sound digital policy, blue economy, agriculture capacity building, energy, transportation and infrastructure were discussed.
Adviser Rahman thankfully mentioned that US is Bangladesh’s single largest export destination country and also the largest investor in the country.
Advisor Rahman underscored that Bangladesh would continue to pursue economic diplomacy pro-actively with neighbouring, regional and global players and welcomed the US interest and involvement in the existing and new initiatives.
Under Secretary Krach appreciated Bangladesh Government’s initiatives to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).
The co-chairs expressed their optimism that the US companies would take advantage of the competitiveness of Bangladesh and invest in the country in much greater volume particularly in the areas of ICT, energy, and pharmaceuticals.
Both sides noted with great appreciation the excellent cooperation during the COVID-19 pandemic between the two countries and highlighted the supply of world class PPE by Bangladesh to the United States in the shortest possible time.
An Air Transport Agreement between the two governments was signed during the High Level consultation with the hope to continue positive engagement between the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Civil Aviation Authority, Bangladesh (CAAB).
The co-chairs concluded the meeting by emphasizing the importance of regular engagement between the two Governments at the political and bureaucratic levels.
“We have seen tremendous market potential in Bangladesh … we thought, we should have a senior level discussion to develop a shared vision for advancing the US-Bangladesh economic partnership,” a senior official of the US embassy here told BSS on Monday regarding today’s meeting.
He said Bangladesh and the USA is holding the meeting to look for a ‘bigger picture’ of enhanced trade cooperation amid a number of US companies’ increasing interest over Bangladesh’s large market and sustained economic growth.
Bangladesh and the US have already been engaged in trade talks under the existing economic forum called ‘Trade and Investment Cooperation Forum Agreement (TICFA)’, since signing of the deal in 2013, to keep stability in the US-Bangladesh trade relationship.
“It (today’s meeting) will not replace the TICFA …it has different emphasis .. TICFA focuses on specific trade and investment issues … this one will look for bigger picture of enhanced cooperation,” said the US embassy official.
The US is Bangladesh’s single largest export destination while as a least developed country, 97 per cent of the goods originating from Bangladesh enjoy duty-free benefits in the US markets as per the decision taken by the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2005.
According to official figures, the two-way Bangladesh-US trade volume in 2019 was around US$9 billion, an amount which was doubled in 10 years.