UNB, Dhaka :The United States has said it has a tremendous opportunity to encourage physical connectivity by expanding port and ‘last mile’ connectivity across the Bay of Bengal region and linking key Indian, Bangladeshi, and Burmese transit hubs.The connectivity across the Bay, the US thinks, will help shape regional regulatory architecture through regional trade and transit agreements, improving the investment climate for greater foreign direct investment, and reducing non-tariff trade barriers throughout South Asia. US Assistant Secretary, Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, Nisha Desai Biswal said this while testifying before Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Subcommittee on Near Eastern, South and Central Asian Affairs on ‘Indispensable Partners: Reenergizing US-India Ties’ in Washington on Wednesday.Biswal also said such connectivity will help foster human connectivity by linking government officials, business leaders, think tanks, and civil society.She expressed satisfaction over the visit of Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to Dhaka.”The United States welcomes the new government’s efforts to strengthen Saarc, and we were pleased to see Indian Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj makes her first official visit abroad to Bangladesh in late June,” Biswal said.
