Yunus and USAID Administrator Explore New Areas for Strengthening Cooperation

USAID Administrator Samantha Power and Chief Advisor Prof. Muhammad Yunus have talked about a variety of topics to strengthen Bangladesh-USA cooperation.

The topics of cooperation that they specifically discussed were youth, justice, energy, and transportation.

Yesterday, the meeting was held off-site during the UN General Assembly.

The US announced on Tuesday that it would be providing an additional nearly $199 million in humanitarian aid to help the Rohingya refugees and host communities in Bangladesh and the surrounding areas. Of this amount, over $129 million would come from USAID and nearly $70 million would come from the US Department of State.

During the UN General Assembly High-level week, US Department of State Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights Uzra Zeya made the announcement about the funding at an event centred around the Rohingya population.

In addition to $78 million from the US Department of Agriculture’s Commodity Credit Corporation, USAID will purchase, ship, and distribute roughly 52,200 metric tonnes of food commodities from American farmers to approximately 610,000 refugees who are experiencing acute food insecurity in Bangladesh. This assistance is made possible by the bipartisan National Security Supplemental.

In order to help Rohingya refugees and host communities with food, nutrition, and protection, it will also support the International Rescue Committee, Unicef, and the UN World Food Program.

Since August 2017, the US government has contributed more than $2.5 billion to the regional response to the Rohingya crisis, including more than $2.1 billion in Bangladesh.

On Wednesday, Prof. Yunus was also met by Volker Turk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

They talked about areas of cooperation that would be beneficial in Bangladesh to protect freedom, justice, and human rights.

Turk praised the ongoing reform efforts of the temporary administration.