Bangladesh-USA Security Dialogue

Washington D.C. : The 4th round of Bangladesh-USA Security Dialogue was held 11th September at the U.S. Department of State, Washington D.C., USA. Mr. Mizanur Rahman, Secretary (Bilateral & Consular), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, led the 9-member Bangladesh delegation in the dialogue comprising of representatives from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Home Affairs, Defence, Armed Forces Division, and the Embassy of Bangladesh in Washington, DC. The U.S. delegation, which was composed of a diverse inter-agency group from different bureaus of the Department of State, Department of Defense, U.S. Pacific Command, was led by Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Political-Military Affairs Mr. Todd Chapman. U.S. Ambassador to Bangladesh Marcia Bernicat also participated in the dialogue.

The day-long dialogue contained discussions encompassing a wide range of issues pertaining to the security partnership between the two countries including, among others, strategic priorities and regional issues, Military-to-Military cooperation, cyber security, UN peacekeeping, counter terrorism and violent extremism, and disaster management. Both the sides converged on the importance of deeper and stronger partnership in their common pursuit to seek effective solutions to their mutual security concerns.

The U.S. side applauded the invaluable contribution of Bangladesh to promote global peace under the aegis of the UN peacekeeping operations. Both the sides underscored different aspects of growing cooperation between the two nations in this critically important field.  The shared commitments of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and President Barack Obama to co-host the U.N. peacekeeping summit in the sideline of the high level segment of the upcoming 70th UNGA was one of the highlights in the discussion.

Bangladesh side also reiterated its unwavering commitment to denounce terrorism and extremism in all its forms and manifestations and thanked the U.S. side to invite Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to participate in the counter-violent extremism summit, another UNGA signature event to be hosted by President Obama this September.

The dialogue ended with a pledge to work together to build on the current robust security relations between the two countries in coming years. The 5th round of security dialogue will be held in Dhaka next year. PRESS RELEASE