Chief adviser鈥檚 press secretary Shafiqul Alam on Sunday said that one of the major accomplishments of their foreign policy over the past 15 months has been establishing strong relations with the United States agricultural economy and the farm lobby.
鈥楾he interim government has laid the foundation for this promising new chapter in Bangladesh-US relations,鈥� he said.
Looking ahead, Alam said, Bangladesh will be able successfully negotiate even greater tariff reductions from the United States as the trade gap shrinks.
鈥極ur garment exporters already have the capacity to purchase the entirety of US cotton exports. Once we establish ourselves as a key US trading partner, we will have no need to engage costly lobby groups in Washington 鈥� we will have the US farm lobby, which has considerable political strength, to advocate for us with US governmental entities,鈥� he said.
鈥楯apan, China, Southeast Asian nations, and Western European countries have all prospered through robust trade with the United States. Now, we too can follow that path,鈥� Alam said in a message shared from his verified Facebook account.
A few months after Khalilur Rahman was appointed as the high representative on Rohingya affairs and later as national security adviser, chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus sent him to Washington DC in February to build ties with the new US administration.
Khalil, a veteran career diplomat and an eminent economist who spent decades at a senior level at a UN organisation specialising in global trade policy, quickly connected with key figures in the American agricultural sector, he said.
Alam said Bangladesh is a major importer of agricultural products, while the US is one of the world鈥檚 largest exporters of soybeans, wheat, cotton, and corn.
鈥楢ccess to US agricultural market is potentially a crucial aspect of our food security, which is one of our key national security concerns,鈥� he said.
It also would allow us to diversify food import sources and thereby to avoid potential situations where certain sourcing countries might weaponise our food dependence on them.
Khalil helped strengthen the bridge between Bangladeshi importers and the US farm lobby 鈥� a relationship that played a crucial role in our successful recent tariff negotiations with Washington.
鈥楤esides, his successful efforts as our lead negotiator contributed to securing competitive tariff rates that have effectively safeguarded Bangladesh鈥檚 garment industry,鈥� Alam said.
Earlier this week, Bangladeshi importers pledged to purchase over one billion dollars鈥� worth of US farm products 鈥� a 鈥榳in-win outcome鈥� for both countries and a milestone in Bangladesh-US relations, said the press secretary.
With China sourcing most of its soybeans from Brazil, Bangladesh can, in a meaningful way, help fill the gap left by Chinese importers, he said.
This growing agricultural trade partnership, Alam said, is now taking center stage in the two nations鈥� diplomatic engagement, a vision championed by the interim government.
