US Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Nisha Desai Biswal is likely to arrive here on a three-day visit on November 16, says an official source.
However, an official at the Foreign Ministry said they have not yet been confirmed the visit of Biswal who was sworn in as the Assistant Secretary on October 21 replacing Robert O Blake.
Meanwhile, the US Embassy in Dhaka said there is no travel announcement regarding the visit.
“We’ve no travel announcement to make at this time and all travel announcements come from Washington DC,” US Embassy Spokesperson Kelly S McCarthy told UNB on Friday.
If Biswal’s visit is confirmed, according to the source, she will meet the representatives of Bangladesh’s two major political parties – Awami League and BNP — to discuss political issues.
The US has been urging both the parties to reach a consensus through a peaceful dialogue for holding free, fair and credible elections.
On Tuesday, US Representative Steve Chabot said both the major political parties in Bangladesh should spearhead their campaigns peacefully ahead of the next general election and speak the truth.
“…so both sides should spearhead campaigns and speak the truth and whoever wins, wins but absolutely no violence should ever occur. I’ll strongly urge both sides to be peaceful,” he told reporters.
Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs deals with US foreign policy and US relations with the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
Previously, Biswal served from September 2010 as Assistant Administrator for Asia at USAID, where she oversaw $1.2 billion in assistance to 22 countries from Central Asia to the Pacific Islands and managed a bureau and overseas staff of over 1200 development professionals, according to the US Department of State.
Source: UNB Connect
