US Ambassador in Dhaka Earl Miller on Sunday said that one of his top priorities was to get vaccine and other emergency health equipment urgently needed for Covid-19 management in Bangladesh as soon as possible.
He was speaking at a virtual town hall titled “US-Bangladesh Economic Relation: Migration to a developing nation” on Sunday. The American Chamber of Commerce in Bangladesh (AmCham) organised the event.
Bangladesh earlier sought at least 2 million doses of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine from the US to finish the two dose course of all those who have taken the first dose. Currently, the government lacks about 1.5 million doses to complete that as the Serum Institute of India stopped supplying the vaccine.
The US government has decided to supply its surplus 80 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine to other countries. Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen earlier talked with the US officials including the Ambassador Miller in this regard.
“One of my top priorities is working with the government, private sector and civil society to get vaccine, oxygen generators and PPE and other emergency health equipment urgently needed to Bangladesh as soon as possible,” said the ambassador.
He said the US was one of the first countries to mobilise funds for the pandemic to Bangladesh.
So far, Washington has given $76 million to Bangladesh which came in additional to $1 billion for general health support for the past 20 years.
President Joe Biden recently announced to contribute in the WHO’s Covax mechanism so that low and middle income countries can have access to vaccines.
The US is the largest single-country business destination for Bangladesh. The two-way trade volume crossed $9 billion. The US is also the largest contributor to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Bangladesh in different sectors.
The ambassador said there are lots of opportunities to increase this trade and investment volume.
“They don’t know the stories of Bangladesh,” he said about the American investors.
“Bangladesh has so much to offer. So many people don’t know about the country….they don’t know about this young entrepreneurial hard working workforce,” he said.
He, however, highlighted the challenges of doing business here. Those include labour rights and safety issues, corruption, and lack of transparency in some government transactions.
But he said in the last three years he found the government “increasingly open in discussing those concerns”.
“We want to continue to see the improvements,” he said, adding that the AmCham can be a “powerful voice” in this regard.
Referring to the recent arrest of journalist Rozina Islam, he said, all have to remember that economic and development progress comes in hand in hand with the democratic progress. Rozina was released from the jail on Sunday after court granted her interim bail. She was sent to jail on May 18 on the charge of stealing government documents.
AmCham began its journey in 1996 in Dhaka with an objective to promote the economic relationships between Bangladesh and the United States of America.
Before that, it used to operate as American Bangladesh Economic Forum (ABEF) since 1988.
Apart from holding business talks and programmes, AmCham also contributed to the PM’s flood relief fund, built cyclone shelters, took steps to protect local handloom heritage, and supported earthquake affected people in Nepal.
Even during COVID-19 pandemic situation, AmCham supported farmers and their family members and awarded frontline fighters through a Journalism Award.
During the virtual meeting, its President Syed Ershad Ahmed said they have decided to undertake “systematic diagnostics” through a research to identify opportunities to further strengthen trade and investment ties between Bangladesh and the US.
This is because the current trade and investment scenario remains “far below potential”, he said.
“Unleashing the full potential of the opportunities between Bangladesh and the US will benefit from a systematic assessment of where the opportunities lie, what holds back the full potential, how other comparator countries are making headway, and identification of strategic options for the US stakeholders to maximise potential,” he said about their upcoming research project.
“We will soon reach out to many of you for your valuable inputs and publish the full report shortly. Our Research team will also reach to US embassy, USTDA and USTR, we are soliciting everyone’s support & cooperation in this regard,” he said, as members of the AmCham were present at the virtual discussion.
