After landing in Dhaka, Donald Lu went to the Foreign Minister's residence

Lu attended a dinner at the Foreign Minister's Iskaton residence on Saturday (January 14) night. US Ambassador to Dhaka, Peter Haas, was with him at the time.

After dinner, Momen-lu met for a meeting. The relevant sources could not provide any information about the meeting till the writing of this report. However, it is believed that they have discussed issues related to bilateral and mutual interests.

Earlier, Lu arrived at Dhaka's Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in the evening and was received at the airport by Naeem Uddin Ahmed, Director General of the Americas Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

According to information from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lu will hold a bilateral meeting with Foreign Secretary Masoud Bin Momen on Sunday, January 15. Information from diplomatic sources about that meeting says that in the meeting, Bangladesh will request the United States to withdraw the ban on RAB and not to impose any new ban.

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On the other hand, the US can emphasize on democracy, elections, human rights, Indo-Pacific strategy, defense cooperation, digital security law and ensuring the security of the country's diplomats in Dhaka.

Diplomatic sources also said the two sides are likely to discuss bilateral and multilateral issues during Lu's visit. In this case, each priority issue will be on the discussion table. From the side of Dhaka, the lifting of the ban on RAB, resumption of GSP facilities, various initiatives of the government in the protection of business and trade, labor rights and human rights, various steps taken so far regarding free, fair and impartial elections, ensuring the safety of diplomats according to the Vienna Charter, Issues like cooperation on the Rohingya issue.

Besides, Dhaka will highlight the incident of Bangladeshi killed by police in Boston, USA. There will also be the matter of returning Bangabandhu's self-confessed and death-sentenced murderer Rashed Chowdhury.

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Lu is expected to deliver a message of free and fair elections and participation of all parties in Bangladesh. In addition to the human rights situation, disappearances, digital security law, security cooperation including Indo-Pacific strategy, Bangladesh should be included in the agreements like JSOMIA and Aksar.

Note that for the last 30 years, Donald Lu has been serving as a foreign official for the United States government. In September 2021, Lu was appointed Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs. Although he has visited several countries in the region before, this is his first visit to Dhaka.