US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has hailed Bangladesh's efforts towards augmenting regional connectivity with neighbouring countries.
PM HASINA And Hillary Clinton
After an hour-long meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Clinton lauded Bangladesh's efforts for greater communication with its neighbouring countries, prime minister's press secretary Abul Kalam Azad said.
The secretary of state landed in Dhaka on Saturday afternoon on a 24-hour trip to Bangladesh and went straight to the Prime Minister's Office. There she first met Foreign Minister Dipu Moni and addressed a joint press conference after signing a declaration on Bangladesh-US Partnership Cooperation.
"Bangladesh will benefit from the regional connectivity because of its geographical position," the press secretary said quoting Clinton.
She said the regional connectivity would also give a boost to ties with Myanmar, a close neighbour of Bangladesh.
Azad said the prime minister greeted Clinton on her first visit as the secretary of state and said her visit would further strengthen the already good relations between the two countries.
Hailing the US as a tested friend of Bangladesh for the socio-economic development and women's empowerment, the prime minister said she was also working for people's welfare and prosperity, the press secretary said.
Referring to the loss of her 18 family members in Aug 1975, and 2004 grenade attack that killed 24 people, the prime minister also reiterated her government's zero-tolerance stance against terrorism.
He further said apart from various bilateral discussions, the prime minister also requested Clinton to extradite her father's killer A M Rashed Chowdhury, a death sentence-carrying convict now living in the US.
Foreign Affairs Advisor to the prime minister Gowher Rizvi, Ambassador-at-Large M Ziauddin, her chief secretary Sheikh Wahid-uz-Zaman, Bangladesh Ambassador to US Akramul Qader, US Ambassador in Dhaka Dan W Mozena and US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Robert O Blake were also present during the meeting.
Begum Khaleda Zia and Hillary Clinton
