Bangladesh hosts high-level U.S. diplomats, seeks help for finishing post-Hasina reforms

This photograph handed out supplied by Bangladesh Press Data Division (PID) reveals Brent Neiman, US Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Worldwide Finance and Growth, left, talking with Muhammad Yunus, Bangladesh’s interim authorities’s chief, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on September 15, 2024.
| Photograph Credit score: AP

Bangladesh on Sunday (September 15, 2024) sought help from the USA to implement the reform-related agenda of the interim authorities. Chief Adviser Prof Mohammed Yunus conveyed the necessities of the interim authorities to a multiagency delegation led by U.S. Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Worldwide Finance and Growth Brent Neiman and Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asia Donald Lu.

Mr. Yunus briefed the visiting U.S. delegation concerning the prevailing state of affairs in Bangladesh for the reason that Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League authorities fell following protests stemming from a student-people rebellion. He stated the interim authorities had constituted six commissions to reform numerous segments of the Bangladeshi state such because the judiciary, the police, the election fee and the structure other than launching an anti-corruption staff. The go to is being keenly watched as it’s the first high-level delegation from the U.S. visiting Bangladesh after the autumn of Sheikh Hasina, who was extensively recognized to be vital of the U.S. administration.

“We have been submerged in an ocean of corruption,” Mr. Yunus instructed the U.S. officers in keeping with a readout issued by the BSS, the state-owned information outlet of Bangladesh. The hour-long assembly additionally coated the continuing labour unrest within the nation that has prompted the closure of numerous garment factories in Bangladesh, the Rohingya disaster and the upcoming go to of Mr. Yunus to New York.

The multi-agency staff from the U.S. had stopped in New Delhi for bilateral session earlier than reaching Dhaka on Saturday. The India go to of the Donald Lu-Brent Neiman delegation prompted some commentators to trace that the U.S. might be conscious of the Indian issues within the aftermath of the autumn of the Sheikh Hasina authorities. This backdrop has prompted main Bangladesh-watcher Jon Danilowicz to say in an article in Dhaka Tribune, “It is going to be vital for the U.S. facet to reassure their Bangladeshi counterparts that they aren’t singing off another person’s sheet music.”  The interim authorities has been vital of Sheikh Hasina residing in India the place she took refuge after shedding energy.

A serious consequence of the go to was the signing of a deal between USAID and Bangladesh that can pave the way in which of grant for $200 million to Dhaka. “@USAID signed an settlement price $200 million with the Bangladesh interim authorities to advance improvement, empower youth, strengthen democracy and governmence, enhance well being and develop commerce and financial alternatives to individuals throughout the nation,” stated the USAID Bangladesh in a press release after the settlement.

The deal was signed by Finance adviser Dr. Salehuddin Ahmed and International Affairs Adviser Md. Touhid Hossain. International Secretary Md Jashim Uddin briefed the journalists and stated that the dialogue with the U.S. delegation coated all points that fell within the area of “bilateral ties”, indicating that India-Bangladesh ties didn’t characteristic within the talks. In response to a query about attainable assembly between Mr. Yunus and U.S. President Joe Biden in New York, International Secretary Md Jashim Uddin stated {that a} bilateral assembly was not but on the playing cards however indicated that an interplay was attainable as there are deliberate social occasions on the sidelines of the UN Basic Meeting’s annual session.

The interim authorities led by Mr. Yunus took cost on August 7 and has been targeted on the regulation and order state of affairs which has confronted elevated challenges lately. Other than studies of assaults on the Awami League activists, violence has additionally focused Islamic Sufi shrines.