Dr. Yunus to Meet with Joe Biden Today
A bilateral meeting between interim government chief advisor Professor Dr. Muhammad Yunus and U.S. President Joe Biden is scheduled for today.
This meeting is set to take place on Tuesday, September 24, in New York, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly session.
Key discussions may include:
- Context of the interim government in Bangladesh
- Reform initiatives
- Challenges facing the government, and
- Potential U.S. support
- Additionally, topics such as media freedom, climate change, and regional issues like the Rohingya crisis are likely to be addressed.
According to several diplomatic sources, Dr. Yunus is expected to discuss the context of the interim government, various reform measures, and the challenges facing the government during his meeting with the U.S. President. The topic of India may also come up in the discussion.
Diplomatic sources in Dhaka and New York have confirmed that the meeting between the two leaders will take place at the UN headquarters at 11:30 a.m. local time in New York (9:30 p.m. Bangladesh time) on Tuesday.
The upcoming meeting between Dr. Yunus and Biden has already attracted attention because this will be the first time in three decades that a Bangladeshi head of government will meet with a U.S. president at the UN.
Shahidul Alam, a human rights activist and photographer traveling with the delegation, mentioned in an interview that topics like Bangladesh-U.S. relations, media freedom, and climate change are likely to be prioritized in the discussions between Dr. Yunus and President Biden.
Foreign Secretary Md. Jasim Uddin told the media that the two leaders will discuss how to strengthen overall cooperation between the two countries. Specifically, there will be a focus on the reform initiatives taken since the interim government took charge and potential U.S. support for those efforts. The changing situation in Myanmar and the Rohingya crisis might also be on the agenda.
Earlier, on Monday, September 23, Dr. Muhammad Yunus departed Dhaka for New York with the smallest delegation in recent memory (57 members) to attend the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly.
Dr. Yunus is scheduled to return to Dhaka on Friday night, September 27, after completing his visit.
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