Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has penned a response to US President Joe Biden, reciprocating his earlier letter.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on Sunday, delivered a copy of the letter to Eileen Laubacher, special assistant to the president and senior director for South Asia at the US National Security Council, during a high-level meeting at the ministry.

Muhammad Imran, Bangladesh’s Ambassador to the USA, is set to deliver the original letter to the White House.

Sources within the ministry said that during the meeting, the visiting inter-agency US delegation led by Eileen Laubacher expressed their desire to forge a new era of bilateral relations with Bangladesh.

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 on 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.

During the meeting, Dhaka reiterated its steadfast position in favour of peace and against any form of war and asked for US to use its leverage to achieve a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

The Bangladesh side also hoped for the Russia-Ukraine war to end. The extradition of Bangabandhu’s self-confessed killer Rashed Chowdhury from the US was also discussed.
Dhaka also asked for the withdrawal of the US sanction on RAB.

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.

As the two countries embark on the next chapter of the US-Bangladesh partnership, Biden said he wants to convey the sincere desire of his administration to continue their work together on regional and global security, economic development, climate change and energy, global health, humanitarian support, especially for Rohingya refugees, and more.

“We have a long and successful history of working together to solve problems, and our strong people-to-people ties are the foundation of this relationship,” the US President wrote to PM Sheikh Hasina.