US looks forward to growing defence ties with Bangladesh: Haas

US Ambassador to Bangladesh Peter Haas has said his country "looks forward to growing its defence cooperation" with Bangladesh in addition to deepening ties between the two countries on key fronts.

"I'm excited about the possibilities for collaboration on the economy, development, public health, security, and climate change," he said after his meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

They discussed Bangladesh's successes and the two countries' strong bilateral partnership over the past 50 years.

"We set the stage for our nations' next 50 years of ties," said the US Embassy quoting Ambassador Haas.

The ambassador and the prime minister discussed the 50 years of partnership between Bangladesh andthe United States, andways the countries can deepen this partnership.

They highlighted the shared achievements over the 50 years of positive bilateral relations between Bangladesh and the United States and discussed ways to deepen the partnership between the two countries.

"We discussed our cooperation on a range of topics, including economic development, security, climate change, Rohingya refugee assistance, and Covid-19," Haas said.

He acknowledged Bangladesh's remarkable economic progress, its leadership on climate change, its generosity in sheltering Rohingya refugees, and its tremendous contribution to global peacekeeping operations.

Haas reaffirmed the United States' continued support of Rohingya refugees and Bangladeshi host communities.

"During our meeting, I told the prime minister that I think one of our proudest joint achievements was in how we worked together to respond to the Covid-19 crisis," said Ambassador Haas.

"I commend Bangladesh's effort to vaccinate over 70 per cent of its entire population" he added.

The United States has donated nearly 88 million Covid-19 vaccine doses, contributed over $140 million in Covid-19 related development and humanitarian assistance, and collaborated closely with Bangladesh to distribute this assistance throughout the country.

Haas highly appreciated the Covid-19 handling and vaccination programme of Bangladesh, saying this is a "remarkable efficiency" and "really amazing".

He said that US wants to make partnership with Bangladesh in "Global Covid Action Plan" on working out future situation of the pandemic.

"A US-Bangladesh ministerial-level special session, along with other stake holders, would be held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly," said Haas.

"Bangladesh is clearly ahead of the United States in vaccination programmes under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. This is really amazing and the efficiency is remarkable," he said.

In this connection, he also mentioned that Bangladesh graduated to a developing nation from LDCs under Hasina's leadership. "It will continue to uplift further," he believed.

Regarding the success in tackling Covid-19 pandemic, the premier said her party and associate organisations handled the pandemic situation efficiently from the beginning by working around the clock during which they raised awareness, served the patients and distributed medicines and oxygen.

She said when the vaccine has become available, her government has provided first, second and booster doses free of cost to the people. Now, the government is administering vaccine to the children, she added.

In this connection, she said that she formed a committee under the Prime Minister's office to coordinate with the other ministries and stake holders for handling Covid-19 vaccination scheme, which worked really well.

Sheikh Hasina said that she herself communicated with all at that time.