Dhaka-Delhi ties, talks will stabilise South Asia: US

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to India and the parleys she held here will "help maintain stability" in South Asia, a senior visiting US official has said.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to India and the parleys she held here will "help maintain stability" in South Asia, a senior visiting US official has said.

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Patrick S. Moon, principal deputy assistant secretary of state in the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs of the US, expressed this view while holding meetings with cabinet ministers here Thursday.

Moon suggested signing of a Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) between Dhaka and Washington for enhanced economic cooperation between the two countries, New Age newspaper said Friday.

US Ambassador to Bangladesh James F. Moriarty has on earlier occasions said that one step that the two countries could take to foster greater dialogue on entrepreneurship, market access and labour issues would be to sign TIFA.

The TIFA will help protect mutual economic interests and strengthen the ongoing cooperation in trade and investment, the US said after the talks.

Moon also met Minister for Environment Hasan Mahmud Thursday.

Mahmud sought assistance from the US in the power sector for building another dam in Kaptai for doubling hydropower generation, according to United News of Bangladesh (UNB).

"If we construct another dam six km downstream of Kaptai hydroelectric dam, we can generate the same amount of power from the new plant," Mahmud said.