<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu on Wednesday described his Bangladesh visit as an effort to "rebuild the trust" between the people of the two countries.</b></span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">"Last year, there were a lot of tension between US and Bangladesh," he told reporters in a brief statement, noting that they want to look forward.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Lu had a courtesy meeting with Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud at his office and discussed ways to deepen the relations between two countries.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The United States said they stand with Bangladesh in building a "prosperous, secure, and democratic" future.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Our discussion with the Foreign Minister today reaffirmed our shared commitment to cultivating economic growth, bolstering the workforce, improving security cooperation, addressing the climate crisis and reinforcing our values of respecting democracy and human rights," said the US side.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Talking to reporters at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lu said they want to find ways to strengthen the relationship.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"So I spoke about working the hard issues. We have lots of hard issues -- RAB sanction, labour reforms, we have human rights, business climate reforms," Lu said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In order to work on hard issues, Donald Lu said, they want to build up the cooperation on positive issues.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"We are talking about new investments, more Bangladeshi students who want to study in the US and how to work on clean energy," he said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The US also wants to support Bangladesh in fighting corruption, hold the officials accountable, ensure transparency and help widen tax net.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd/fas</div>