Nizam Ahmed
Economic ties between the United States
and Bangladesh
are deepening gradually as the entrepreneurs and traders of the former continue
to show their active interest in the latter as an attractive place for
investment and a competitive source, mostly for apparels, traders and officials
said on Tuesday.
Following the tragic fire incident at
a factory of the Tazreen Fashions Ltd at Ashulia that killed 111 workers late
last month, the rate of order for apparels from the US has turned normal after a few
days' slow pace, officials at the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and
Exporters Association (BGMEA) said.
The US investors are also among the
interested parties that have registered their investment proposals in different
sectors mainly in energy over the last couple of months, according to the Board
of Investment (BoI).
However, the diplomatic relations
between the two governments, according to some diplomats and analysts, are
somewhat less warm, particularly over the past couple of years, than before.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina did not
find a time to meet visiting US assistant secretary of state for South and
Central Asian Affairs Robert O Blake last week, they noted.
"We are not convinced that the
prime minister did not get time to meet the US assistant secretary of state for
her preoccupation," a former senior government official said requesting
not to be identified.
During the visit of Mr Blake, the
prime minister had given time for relatively less important events, he said.
It was for the first time that a US
State Department official of that rank concluded his/her visit to Bangladesh
without meeting the prime minister of the country, said officials at the
ministry of foreign affairs.
Earlier the US Ambassador
to Bangladesh Robert W Mozena also could not find a schedule to meet the Prime
Minister Sheikh Hasina over the last couple of months, despite his request,
officials at the US
embassy in Dhaka said.
This is also unprecedented that a US ambassador
has to wait so long to have an interaction with the prime minister of Bangladesh.
Source: The Financial Express, 19 December 2012
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