Bangladesh, US important partners in democratic governance: Ambassador Ziauddin

Bangladesh Ambassador to the United States Mohammad Ziauddin has said Dhaka and Washington consider each other as “important partners in democratic governance and integration with global economy”.

“Bangladesh and the US have, over four decades, built a strong bilateral relationship based on common values and mutual respect,” he told faculty members, scholars and students at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana, on Monday.

The embassy said he was delivering a lecture on “Bangladesh’s policy priorities and its relationship with the United States and the regional powers” at Keough School of Global Affairs.

Ziauddin highlighted the bilateral relations, among other issues.

The ambassador said both Bangladesh and the United States condemn mindless violence and extremism in the name of ideology or political expression as “both believe violence has no space in democracy.”

He said under the current leadership, Bangladesh has been able to maintain “equal robust” relations with the US, China, India, Japan, Russia and the European Union.

This is “because all these big powers respect Bangladesh’s stance for friendship with all and malice towards none", he said.

In South Asia, he said, Bangladesh believes “cooperation is imperative for optimum utilization of resources and thus development, peace and stability of the region".

Referring to the close ties with India, he said, both are working closely in counter-terrorism in the region while energy connectivity has recently been added as a new dimension in the bilateral relations.

The envoy also highlighted Bangladesh’s socio-economic progress, and said outgoing UN secretary general Ban ki-Moon inspired, by these developments, frequently mentioned in his speeches that “Bangladesh is a role model of development".

"Bangladesh now confidently looks forward to graduating to a middle income country by 2021,” Ziauddin said.