PM Hasina writes back to Biden

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has written back to US President Joe Biden.

Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud handed over a copy of the letter to Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for South Asia, US National Security Council (NSC), Eileen Laubacher on Sunday.

It is a response to the letter sent by the US President to the Bangladesh Prime Minister, reports UNB.

Bangladesh Ambassador to USA, Muhammad Imran, will hand over the original copy of the letter to White House.

The Foreign Minister has said that they want a new chapter of relations with Bangladesh.

“We want to begin a new chapter of relations with them,” he said, adding that the nations will benefit through strengthening the relations.

Eileen Laubacher led an inter-agency US delegation during her meeting with Foreign Minister Hasan at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Sunday.

The USAID’s Assistant Administrator of the Bureau for Asia Michael Schiffer, the US Department of States Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs (SCA) Afreen Akhter, and CDA of the US Embassy in Dhaka Helen LaFave were present at the meeting.

Besides, Bangladesh Ambassador to the US Muhammad Imran and Director General of Foreign Ministry’s North America Wing Khandker Masudul Alam and other officials from the ministry were present.

The discussions centred around exploring new avenues to deepening the existing relationship. Economic cooperation, trade and investment, Rohingya humanitarian response, climate change, and energy were in focus during the meeting.

Earlier, US President Joe Biden wrote to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expressing his willingness to work together to achieve Bangladesh’s economic goals. He also expressed willingness to partnering with Bangladesh on the shared vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific.