United States Ambassador Marcia Bernicat has described the relationship between Dhaka and Washington as strategic, saying that Secretary of State John Kerry’s upcoming visit is not only about the current administration, but also bridging to the next one. “We have a very strong partnership and what’s the next level. He (Kerry) is coming here…It is not only about our current administration but bridging to the next,” she told a small group of reporters at the Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies on Wednesday after meeting Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque. “There will be change in the government, change in the leadership.  So he will be very much a part of that,” she added, when asked about the message of Kerry during his daytrip to Bangladesh on Monday. A new administration will take over the White House in January through an election in the first week of November. Asked if the Bangladesh-US relationship will be strategic, the Ambassador said, “I would say, it already is.” “I know that the strategic level involves different level talks and everything, but when we talk about security and trade, we are not just talking about today or Bangladesh and US can do together. We are also talking about things like what will be Bangladesh’s role in the region, what will be security,” she said.
“You know security…You put your people, your skilled military and police on the line everyday to keep peace around the world. So, we talk about how to expand that, how to play that role, that’s strategic,” she added. Bernicat continued, “The Prime Minister (Sheikh Hasina) and (US) President (Barack Obama) attended the peace summit. That is already strategic in my view. In that sense I would say it is already strategic. To that extent our leadership meets and talks about this, that happens on regular basis. It happened in G-7, it happened in New York.” “I want to emphasise the partnership part because it’s not one-way relationship. We both contribute positively, how we can do that together, how we do that apart but in a way that support each other,” she said.
Meanwhile, formally announcing the visit on the part of Washington, the US State Department has said that Kerry will focus on security, democracy, human rights and democracy during his visit to Bangladesh.
“U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to Dhaka, Bangladesh, on August 29 to highlight the longstanding and broad U.S.-Bangladesh relationship,” said a press statement on Wednesday (Thursday in Bangladesh) issued by Elizabeth Trudeau, director of the Office of Press Relations at the State Department. “Secretary Kerry will meet with government officials to discuss our growing cooperation on global issues,” it said.
“He also will focus on strengthening our longstanding bilateral partnership on democracy, development, security and human rights,” it added. According to sources concerned, Secretary Kerry will arrive in the capital by a special flight from Geneva, Switzerland, in the morning on Monday and depart Dhaka in the evening for New Delhi. While in Dhaka, he will hold bilateral talks with his Bangladeshi counterpart Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali and pay a courtesy call on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, they said, adding that he is also scheduled to meet representatives of the civil society. It is yet to be known if Secretary Kerry will meet BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia.