US Deputy Coordinator for Global COVID-19 Response and Health Security Laura Stone has appreciated Bangladesh’s impressive response to Covid-19.

"We have been very impressed with Bangladesh’s ....(response to Covid-19). We reviewed the excellent cooperation that we have with Bangladesh," she said.

Stone made the remarks while talking to reporters at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after her meeting with State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam on Tuesday.

She said they are discussing further cooperation in the health sector building on the decades of relations and want to see the best ways to highlight the excellent cooperation on Covid-19 front.

Talking to reporters separately, State Minister Shahriar said the US side has proposed Bangladesh to be part of the ministerial meeting of the Global Action Plan for Covid-19 Response which will be held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in September.

“We will officially convey our decision after further reviewing the proposal but initially we welcomed it,” he said, hoping that Bangladesh will play an active role in the meeting.

As the world continues to grapple with COVID-19’s far-reaching impacts and new variants, there remains an urgent need to maintain and strengthen political engagement and coordination to end the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, says the US side.

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Building on the June 15th COVID-19 senior officials meeting, Hayashi Yoshimasa, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan and Antony Blinken, Secretary of State of the United States of America, convened a virtual COVID-19 Global Action Plan (GAP) foreign ministerial meeting on July 19 with over 25 countries, the African Union, World Health Organization (WHO), and World Bank.

Stone mentioned the close relations between the United States and Bangladesh and expressed sincere congratulations to the State Minister on the completion of 50 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Praising the steps taken by the Bangladesh government to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic, Stone said Bangladesh's success in combating the coronavirus is unprecedented despite being a densely populated country and it is a role model for many countries in the world.

Thanking the United States for donating the Covid vaccine doses, the State Minister expressed hope of expanding the areas of cooperation in the coming days.

Besides, the Rohingya issue, climate change, bilateral trade and other important bilateral issues were discussed in the meeting.

Earlier, Laura Stone met Secretary (West) Shabbir Ahmad Chowdhury and discussed bilateral issues between the two countries.

Senior officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and US Ambassador to Bangladesh Peter Haas were present at the meetings.

Stone is on a two-day visit to discuss the future cooperation in the areas of health and pandemic.

Laura Stone was Deputy Assistant Secretary for South Asia, overseeing U.S. policy towards and relations with India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Maldives, and Bhutan.

Previously, she also served as Director of the India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Maldives, and Bhutan Affairs Office, Special Advisor to the Undersecretary of State for Economic Growth, and was Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for China and Mongolia from 2017 to 2019.