News Desk :
Outgoing US Ambassador to Bangladesh Earl R Miller expressed hope that the “excellent relations” between the two countries would reach “new heights” in the future, noting that a high-level delegation from Washington would visit Dhaka within the next few months.
He said the delegation has started preparations to discuss various issues of mutual interest with a view to taking the relations between the two countries to a higher level.
Ambassador Miller made the remarks during his farewell meeting with Prime Minister’s International Affairs Adviser Dr Gowher Rizvi at the Prime Minister’s Office, reports UNB.
The meeting between them lasted for an hour from 4:30pm to 5:30pm, according to the Prime Minister’s Office.
Ambassador Miller was accompanied by Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in Dhaka Helen LaFave and Political Section Chief Arturo Hines.
During the meeting, the outgoing US Ambassador discussed various issues related to strengthening the relations between the two countries during his tenure in Bangladesh for about 3 years and 2 months.
Gowher Rizvi noted that the two countries have excellent relations in the areas of trade, investment, education, culture, defence and disaster management.
Meanwhile, Outgoing US Ambassador to Bangladesh Earl R Miller has said human trafficking is “modern slavery” which has no place anywhere in the world. “Working with you to fight human trafficking is a priority of the U.S. Embassy,” he said while inaugurating a counter-human
trafficking workshop for tribunal judges in Dhaka together with Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Anisul Huq on Wednesday.
The event was organized by the Fight Slavery and Trafficking In-Persons (FSTIP) project and funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), reports UNB.
Strong collaboration between the United States and Bangladesh led to the establishment of seven special tribunals to prosecute trafficking-in-persons (TIP) and the implementation of the five-year National Plan of Action to combat human trafficking.
Ambassador Miller highlighted U. S. support for Bangladesh’s counter-human trafficking programmes and said this workshop reaffirms their commitment to partner with the Government of Bangladesh, civil society, the private sector, and trafficking survivors to end trafficking in persons.
Despite the Prevention and Suppression of Human Trafficking Act of 2012, American and Bangladeshi law enforcement and judicial partners recognize prosecution and conviction rates for human trafficking can be improved.
USAID’s $10 million FSTIP project is helping Bangladesh more effectively prosecute and convict human traffickers though training like this week’s workshop for justice sector officers, prosecutors, and judges.
Bangladesh’s attainment of Tier 2 status for the last two consecutive years in the U.S. Department of State’s TIP Report demonstrates the growing success of the U.S./Bangladesh partnership combatting human trafficking.
With U.S. support, the Government of Bangladesh has strengthened the justice sector’s ability to prosecute trafficking offenders, said the US Embassy in Dhaka on Wednesday.
In the past five years, USAID has trained 569 judges and more than 1,000 police, public prosecutors, and lawyers on human trafficking issues so trafficking perpetrators can be caught, tried, and punished.
U.S. programmes and funding also support community organizations to provide shelter, healthcare, counseling, life-skills and entrepreneurship training, and job placement to over 3,000 trafficking survivors.
Md. Golam Sarwar, Secretary, Law and Justice Division, Ministry of Law, Justice, and Parliamentary Affairs; Justice Nazmun Ara Sultana, Director General, Judicial Administration Training Institute (JATI); Md. Golam Kibria, Senior District and Sessions Judge, Director of Training, JATI, also spoke at the event.
