Online Desk :  US Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu arrived in Dhaka on Saturday afternoon, following his three-day visit to New Delhi in India. He arrived at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka at about 3:30pm by a flight of Indigo Airlines from New Delhi.

At that time, Donald Lu was greeted by Assistant Secretary for International Finance at the US Department of the Treasury Brent Neiman, Chargé d’Affaires (ad interim), US Embassy Dhaka Helen LaFave, and Chief Protocol Officer of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Director General Khandker Masudul Alam. Earlier in the morning, Brent Neiman, assistant secretary for International Finance at the US Department of the Treasury, arrived in Dhaka, a diplomatic source said.

This is the first visit by any US delegation to Dhaka since the interim government, led by Prof Muhammad Yunus, took charge after the fall of the Awami League government. Officials of USAID and the Office of the US Trade Representative will also be in the delegation which will call on the chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus, foreign adviser Touhid Hossain, and finance adviser Saleh Uddin Ahmed on Sunday (September 15)

The delegation will also hold a meeting with Foreign Secretary Jashim Uddin, in the presence of officials from the ministries of foreign affairs, finance, commerce, labour, as well as Bangladesh Bank. In a statement prior to Lu’s arrival, the US State Department said that the officials will discuss the ways US can support Bangladesh’s economic growth, financial stability and development needs.