Tuesday, February 20, 2024
Year : 2, Issue : 8
Dhaka Desk: US Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs Afreen Akhter will arrive in Dhaka on a three-day visit on February 24, diplomatic sources confirmed today.
It will be the first visit by any US official after the January 7 elections.
The visit is aimed at taking forward the bilateral relations that saw strains over the last two years as Washington imposed sanctions against Rab and did not invite Bangladesh to Biden’s Summit for Democracy in 2021 and 2023.
In May last year, the US also announced a visa policy, saying it would deny visas to Bangladeshis who undermine the democratic process.
Following the elections, the US State Department in a statement said the elections were not free and fair. It, however, said the US would deepen people-to-people contact, economic partnership in the context of greater Indo-Pacific Strategy.
Afreen Akhter, who also visited Bangladesh before the elections, is likely to hold meeting with senior officials of the foreign ministry and discuss development partnership, trade, the Rohingya crisis, etc.
During her previous visit on October 16-17 last year, she met senior government officials, civil society members, Rohingya refugees, and representatives from humanitarian organisations. She also visited the Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar.
At a briefing at the Foreign Press Centre in Washington on February 14, she told journalists that Washington is focusing on engaging civil society, labour organisations and media to build institutions that will enable Bangladesh to become more democratic.
“We are really wanting to focus on building up the institutions of democracy, the levers of democracy, in Bangladesh,” she said.
