Ties with China, Russia don’t impact US-Bangladesh relations: Afreen

A senior US State Department official has said Washington does not define its relationship with Bangladesh taking into account Dhaka’s ties with Russia, China or any other country.

“US-Bangladesh relationship isn’t defined by China, by Russia and any other country,” US Deputy Assistant Secretary Afreen Akhter told BSS.

She said that Washington had a broad range in multifaceted, multi-dimensional relationship with Bangladesh found lots of synergies as Dhaka recently released its Indo-Pacific Outlook (IPO) as many of its elements were common with US Indo Pacific Strategy (IPS).

“Broadly, we see lot of synergies between our two documents, our strategy, and your (Bangladesh’s) outlook. We both are focused on building economic prosperity in the region and through infrastructure, through our substantial development projects,” the senior state department official said.

Bangladesh last month released its IPO envisioning a free, open, peaceful, secure, and inclusive indo-pacific region that appeared Dhaka’s expression its cohesion with the IPS which has been pursuing by the US in the region.

Talking to BSS Akhter pointed out with note of thanks Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s recent joint statement with Japanese premier Fumio Kishida “condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a violation of an International law and the UN charter”.

“I just want to say Prime Minister (Sheikh) Hasina’s recent statement on Russia . . . we really welcome it very positively,” she said.

The US diplomat welcomed Dhaka’s announcement of IPO and said the two documents – US’s IPS and Bangladesh’s IPO – share “tremendous amount in common”.