Washington briefs Dhaka on Indo-Pacific Economic Framework

ZOOMBANGLA DESK: Washington has briefed Dhaka on the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), recently launched by the United States (US) with 12 other countries of the Indo-Pacific region, including India.

“The United States briefed Bangladesh on the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), and Bangladesh welcomed additional information on the supply chain resilience and de-carbonization pillars of the IPEF,” said a joint statement, issued after 2nd High-Level Economic Consultation (HLEC) between Bangladesh and the US held in Washington DC on Thursday.

During the meeting, both countries shared a common vision of a free, open, inclusive, peaceful, and secured Indo-Pacific region with shared prosperity for all, said the statement.

Dhaka also sought US technical assistance to sustainably explore its ocean resources and further develop its blue economy in pursuit of environmental protection and economic prosperity.

Bangladesh Prime Minister’s private industry and investment adviser Salman F. Rahman, MP, and US State Department’s Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment Jose W. Fernandez co-chaired the daylong meeting.

On May 23, in Tokyo, US President Joe Biden launched the (IPEF) with Australia, Brunei, India, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam – those together
represent 40 percent of world GDP.

The IPEF is a new concept that seeks to start negotiations and discussions on four key pillars – supply chain resilience that hard hit by COVID-19 and Ukraine war; clean energy and de-carbonization; check corruption; and digital trade and emerging technologies.

On Tuesday in Dhaka, while responding to a question by media regarding Bangladesh’s chance to join the new economic framework, the US ambassador to Bangladesh Peter Haas said, the US first started consulting with Bangladesh foreign ministry about IPEF in March by sharing information in the bilateral dialogues.

The US envoy said there would be opportunities for other countries to join IPEF and hoped that “Bangladesh will follow it (IPEF) closely”. (BSS)