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United States assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu on Wednesday said that his two-day visit to Bangladesh was an effort to rebuild trust among the peoples of the two countries.

After a courtesy call on foreign minister Hasan Mahmud at Segun Bagicha, he said that he had discussed ways to deepen bilateral ties. 

‘Last year, we know there were a lot of tensions between the United States and Bangladesh. The US worked very hard to promote free, fair, and nonviolent elections here, and it caused some tensions,’ Lu told reporters at the foreign ministry without entertaining any questions.

He said that it was very common in two cthe ountries’ relationship, adding that they wanted to look forward and not look back. 

‘We want to find ways to strengthen our relationship. And so, I spoke to the minister today about working on the hard things,’ said the US assistant secretary.

Lu arrived in Dhaka on Tuesday after visiting India and Sri Lanka as part of a tri-nation visit from May 10 to 15.

This is his third visit to Bangladesh in 17 months and the first after the January 7 general election here through which the government of Sheikh Hasina took office for the fourth consecutive term.

Referring to the US sanctions on Rapid Action Battalion, Lu said, ‘I spoke about working the hard issues. We have lots of hard issues—RAB sanctions, labour reforms, we have human rights, business climate reforms.’

In order to work on hard issues, he said, they wanted to build up cooperation on positive issues.

‘We are talking about new investments, more Bangladeshi students who want to study in the US and how to work on clean energy,’ he said.

Lu said that the US also wanted to support Bangladesh in fighting corruption, holding officials accountable, and ensuring transparency. 

‘Lastly, one of the things I discussed with the minister was about the work that we are doing together to fight corruption. So much that we can do to promote transparency of government,’ he added.

In a separate press briefing at his office, Hasan Mahmud said that the US wanted to deepen the economic ties between the two nations and take the bilateral relationship to a new height.

Asked what was discussed about the US visa policy for Bangladesh, he said the visa policy was dormant so it was not discussed there.

He, however, said that they wanted the withdrawal of sanctions on the RAB.

The US also wanted to modernise the tax system to check tax evasion, he mentioned.

The foreign minister said that the US also wanted to extend financial support from its Development Finance Corporation to strengthen Bangladesh’s foreign reserves.

Senior officials of the foreign ministry and the US ambassador to Bangladesh, Peter Haas, among others, were present at the meeting.

Earlier on the day, Donald Lu paid a call on environment, forest, and climate change minister Saber Hossain Chowdhury at the secretariat and held a bilateral meeting with foreign secretary Masud Bin Momen at the state guest house Padma.

After arriving in Dhaka on Tuesday, Lu had a meeting with civil society representatives at the residence of the US ambassador to Bangladesh, Haas, in the afternoon before joining a dinner at the Gulshan residence of the prime minister’s private industry and investment adviser, Salman F Rahman, officials in Dhaka confirmed.

In the informal meeting with Salman, the US assistant secretary asked for timely payments to American companies doing business here.

He also inquired about the political and civil rights situation following the general election in the meeting with civil society members. 

In September 2023, the US Department of State announced that it had started imposing visa restrictions on individuals involved in undermining the democratic election process in Bangladesh.

The announcement came at a time when the Election Commission of Bangladesh started making preparations for the January 7 election.

Lu, in a letter in November, asked three major parties—the Awami League, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, and the Jatiya Party—to join a dialogue without any preconditions, a call that Bangladesh’s ruling party readily dismissed.

The Election Commission went ahead with its plan to hold the election on January 7, which was boycotted by most opposition parties.  

A day after the election, the US State Department, in a statement, said that it shared the view with other observers that these elections were not ‘free or fair’ and regretted that not all parties participated.

It, however, said that the country was ‘committed to partnering with Bangladesh’ to advance a ‘shared vision.’

In December 2021, the US imposed sanctions against seven former and serving officials of the RAB and the force itself over allegations of rights abuses.

Dhaka, on several occasions, called upon the US authorities to withdraw the sanctions.