Combating Covid: Bangladesh-US to work closely

Bangladesh and the United States have expressed willingness to work closely to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a meeting held on July 27 between Prime Minister's Adviser for Private Industry and Investment, Salman F. Rahman, MP, and Senior Official for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment of the US Department of State, Ambassador Marcia Bernicat, in Washington, DC, both parties conveyed the willingness.

The meeting was a follow-up of the first Bangladesh-US Economic Partnership Meeting, held virtually on September 30, 2020. 

Both participants expressed satisfaction over the ongoing economic cooperation between the two countries and progress made in the areas of collaboration identified during the 2020 Partnership Meeting.

The adverse impacts of the pandemic on public health and the global economy were discussed at length during the meeting. Adviser Rahman thanked the US Government for providing more than 5.5 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines to Bangladesh through COVAX.

Recalling the close cooperation between the two countries to combat Covid since the early days of the pandemic, Adviser Rahman stressed scaling up the global production of the vaccines and other pandemic management equipment to tackle the virus. He also sought the assistance of the US Government to encourage their vaccine-producing companies to partner with capable pharmaceutical companies in Bangladesh.

Saman F. Rahman also stated that Bangladesh is ready to make necessary investments to enhance the capacities of pharma companies for such partnerships.

The meeting was also attended by Senior Secretary of Finance Division, AbdurRoufTalukder; Bangladesh Ambassador to the US, M Shahidul Islam; Commerce Secretary, TapanKanti Ghosh; ERD Secretary Fatima Yasmin; and officials of the US Department of State.