Afrin Akhtar, Deputy Assistant Minister of the US Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, may visit Bangladesh in the last week of February. Diplomats of the Dhaka-Washington embassy are working to finalize the visit of the US deputy assistant minister. In addition, there are rumors of a series of visits by Western diplomats to Bangladesh in March.
Diplomatic sources say that before the twelfth election in Bangladesh, representatives of the United States at various levels visited Dhaka throughout the last year. During that time, one of the issues of their visit was democracy, human rights, and elections. As democracy and human rights issues are given high priority in US foreign policy, democracy and human rights will also be important in the upcoming visits by the country. Afrin Akhtar, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the US Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, visited Bangladesh in October last year.
Earlier, Afrin Akhtar visited Dhaka on November 5 last year and led the US delegation to the sixth Indian Ocean Summit held in Dhaka last May.
Diplomats in Dhaka say that no US representative has visited Dhaka since last September–October. The upcoming visit will be the first between the two sides after the elections. Discussions between the two sides that ended last September-October will begin in the upcoming visit. Due to the existence of multi-dimensional relations between Dhaka and Washington, it is not possible to say which issues will prevail in the discussion. But it is certain that democracy and human rights are important. With him, trade and investment, the defense sector, the climate crisis, Indo-Pacific strategy, and the Rohingya crisis are likely to gain importance. Besides, the US has an interest in the Myanmar issue, arms procurement for the military sector, and the Boeing issue of aircraft.
During his visit to Bangladesh in October last year, US Deputy Assistant Minister Afrin Akhtar discussed US direct investment and trade in Bangladesh, the long-standing development partnership between the two sides, the visit of an independent and non-partisan election observation team at that time and the 12th national parliamentary elections, the Rohingya crisis, and Middle East issues, the United States of Dhaka said. Embassy said.
At that time, before leaving Dhaka, Afrin Akhtar told reporters that the multifaceted relations between the two countries were discussed in detail during the visit. Economic development, trade and investment, long-term partnerships, and women’s empowerment were discussed. Also, I have given importance to free and fair elections.
A senior diplomat at the secretary level of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told the Daily Times that Dhaka-Washington has a multi-dimensional relationship between the two countries. Dhaka wants to further this relationship. That is why Dhaka welcomes more and more high-level visits from Washington.
How did Dhaka overcome the pressure of the United States in the last election? In response to such questions, the diplomat said, “We have done our work.” I didn’t feel any pressure. Our Prime Minister is now one of the most experienced and capable leaders in the world. No pressure felt like pressure because of his expertise. Another thing is that ‘no pressure is no pressure if you can match the numbers’.
