Embassy of Bangladesh
Deputy Administrator Coleman: Good evening! As-Salaam Alaikum and Ramadan Kareem to those of you celebrating. It is such an honor to celebrate 50 years of partnership between Bangladesh and the United States this evening.
Thank you, Ambassador Islam, for the invitation to speak on this historic occasion. It’s great to be together in person to further deepen the important bond between our nations and people.
I had the pleasure of serving as one of the U.S. Ambassadors at the UN first with Ambassador Abdul Momen and then with Ambassador Masud bin Momen. It is great to reconnect with both of you again here, in this format, to celebrate this great occasion.
The scale of human suffering around the world weighs heavy today. But at the same time, there is extraordinary progress being made in countries such as Bangladesh, and it’s important to take moments like this to reflect on and celebrate that progress.
Just a year ago, Bangladesh celebrated its Golden Jubilee of Independence. Fifty years of remarkable achievements for the Bangladeshi people, who’ve worked and sacrificed to create a strong foundation for lasting peace, prosperity, and the democratic principles that our two countries hold dear.
Bangladeshis are no stranger to adversity: having endured centuries of colonial rule and then a war for liberation marked by atrocities; and devastating natural disasters that have exacerbated extreme poverty and hunger. Yet time and again, the people of Bangladesh have shown a remarkable capacity for resiliency and renewal, and a sense of purpose as challenges arise. Today, Bangladesh is a model for emerging countries worldwide and a critical strategic partner for the United States.
At USAID, we are committed to building on 50 years of development progress for the Bangladeshi people. Over the past five decades, USAID has contributed more than $7 billion in development and humanitarian assistance to support Bangladesh’s development journey. Our assistance—from the American people to the Bangladeshi people—has provided critical support to your efforts to alleviate poverty, drive rapid economic growth, improve food security, cut maternal and child mortality, electrify rural populations, bolster disaster risk reduction, combat climate change and foster development and growth through clean energy, renewable energy and energy efficiency. All of this has helped Bangladesh progress beyond Least Developed Country status.
Over the past several decades, I have written extensively about women’s economic empowerment, returning again and again to examples of success from Bangladesh—from the groundbreaking microfinance work of Grameen and BRAC, to the remarkable success in upskilling women in the garment industry. Between 1990 to 2020, Bangladesh’s female labor force more than doubled and women as a proportion of the Bangladeshi workforce has grown steadily year after year. Bangladesh recognized early on that investing in women is investing in your country’s success.
USAID is proud to provide leadership skills and development training for tens of thousands of women in ready-made garment factories, where women make up the majority of factory workers but still struggle to attain higher promotions. USAID is supporting greater opportunities for these women to elevate their career paths from working on the factory floor to management and leadership roles.
When the COVID-19 pandemic first tore through the world, devastating communities and breaking the capacity of health systems, USAID and our Bangladeshi partners were able to draw upon decades of progress in the health sector.
With nearly $140 million in funding from the United States to fight the pandemic—and end-to-end logistics support for its national vaccination campaign—Bangladesh has been able to rapidly scale the planning and infrastructure needed to protect its people and strengthen health systems for future pandemics.
This pandemic still looms large, and our work is far from over. Over the past year, USAID has supported the delivery of more than 61 million U.S.-donated vaccines, assisting the Government of Bangladesh to fully vaccinate over 95 million people, over half the country’s population, and provide a first dose to over 95 percent of the eligible population.
Our decades-long partnership to improve public health is especially remarkable, as we recall that Bangladesh has cut maternal and child mortality by two-thirds over the last 50 years. And we’re hard at work to protect these gains, taking advantage of this moment to expand access to health care, improve quality of service delivery, and deliver more modern technology to health facilities.
The U.S.-Bangladesh commitment goes beyond public health to address the world’s most pressing development issues, including climate change, widespread gender disparities, and a lack of economic opportunity. In some cases, like that of Tahmina Begum, a wife and mother of 6, we are tackling all three at once.
Tahmina’s northeast village of Birnagar experiences annual rain storms and monsoons that erode the very ground her community inhabits, leaving little to no land to grow food. More than half of the people living in these low-lying areas surrounded by water are classified as poor or extreme poor with high malnutrition.
When her husband fell ill, Tahmina took advantage of a USAID-supported project that promotes gender equity and aims to address malnutrition; she received training to develop a business plan and leverage her skills in sewing and textiles to generate income for her family of seven.
With a grant of 3,000 taka and some of her savings, Tahmina bought a sewing machine, which she uses to make and sell clothes. She invests her profits in the cattle-raising and poultry business, and today, she is a leader in her village’s savings and loan association, helping other women pool money and take out loans to start business.
Tahmina is one of nearly 384,000 people in Bangladesh to receive financial support and training from USAID and our implementing partner, CARE. More broadly, Bangladesh has facilitated the employment of over three million women in its ready-made garment sector, the country’s largest export industry.
These kinds of programs and investments contribute to the rapid and widespread economic growth that Bangladesh has seen in recent decades, resulting in the country’s selection to progress beyond Least Developed Country status and putting it on track to become an upper-middle income country by 2031—truly astonishing achievements. As you progress to the next stage of your development, we will be right alongside you - ready to overcome new challenges and seize new opportunities together.
The people of Bangladesh have made clear: they are capable of reaching this next milestone. Bangladeshis have proven that they can thrive when they are supported by their leaders, which is why USAID is proud to support the government of Bangladesh as it seeks to become even more responsive to their needs.
As you heard Secretary Blinken say, it’s the person-to-person relationships between Bangladeshis and Americans that form the unshakeable partnership between our nations. I am honored and thrilled to experience that with you all tonight and I look forward to visiting your country soon.
Let me close by congratulating the people of Bangladesh. You’ve revealed to the world the wonders of a magnificent country, through trials and renewal, and through your enduring generosity.
USAID, and I, look forward to continuing to build on this strong foundation for decades to come.