Donald Lu, US assistant secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, is scheduled to arrive in Dhaka on Saturday on a two-day visit.
Human rights, Indo-pacific strategy, sanctions against RAB, elections, and efforts to offset the shock of the
Ukraine war will be widely featured during his visit.
Mr Lu’s visit is seen as a crucial one by political and diplomatic analysts against the backdrop of recent tension between the two countries over the sanctions against Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and comments on national elections by US officials.
However, Bangladesh officials consider this visit a positive development and said both countries had recently engaged in constructive engagement.
“This is very positive,” foreign minister Dr AK Abdul Momen told the FE.
The USA is a good friend of us and we hope that such visits would further strengthen our ties, he added. He also noted that Bangladesh has always been responsive to positive and constructive criticism of the US and other countries.
If we find that we have weaknesses in some areas, we are ready to make corrections.
“For example, when they raised some weak points in the digital security act, we have reviewed it,” he pointed out.
Assistant Secretary Lu will meet with senior Bangladeshi officials and civil society leaders to discuss strengthening our bilateral relationship, expanding economic engagement and hear their perspectives on labour and human rights, officials of the US Embassy said.
Mr Lu, who is now in Delhi on a three-day visit, will meet Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen and other high-ups of the foreign ministry on Sunday.
Not only human rights or election, but a whole range of bilateral issues will also come up during our meetings with the US Assistant Secretary, said Bangladesh foreign secretary Dr Masud Bin Momen.
About the US move to get Bangladesh on board in their Indo-Pacific strategy, the foreign secretary said that Bangladesh is not joining any alliance, rather, it is preparing its own strategy on the Indo-Pacific.
Donald Lu became Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs on September 15, 2021.
Before this assignment, Assistant Secretary Lu served as the US Ambassador to the Kyrgyz Republic from 2018 to 2021 and the U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Albania from 2015-2018.
Before his posting in Albania, Assistant Secretary Lu worked on the Ebola crisis in West Africa as the Deputy Coordinator for Ebola Response in the Department of State.
Lu is a Foreign Service Officer with more than 30 years of US government service.
