The United States has no interest in establishing any base in Bangladesh, rather it is interested in the rapid growth of the country, said General Vincent K Brooks, Commanding General of US Army Pacific. “We are not interested in any bases: We are interested in seeing Bangladesh continue to grow rapidly,” he told a roundtable discussion with a select group of journalists to discuss his visit and the ongoing fourth annual Bangladesh-US Disaster Response Exercise, at the Fire Service and Civil Defence Training Academy at Mirpur on Tuesday.
“It’s not about bases,” he said while replying to a question with regard to US influence and establishment of bases in Bangladesh.
About the long-term US vision of Bangladesh, General Brooks said,” The long term US interest is to see Bangladesh continue to emerge as peaceful, prosperous, secure, healthy and democratic.”
On China, he said that any country contributing to the security and prosperity of the region was welcome.
“The trend is: away from the competition and towards cooperation and collaboration,” he added.
Describing Bangladesh as important for the US, General Brooks said, “We want to work with Bangladesh for its prosperity. We wish you every success.”
He assured US Pacific Command’s assistance for Bangladesh in capacity building to respond to natural disasters.
Relying to a query, the General said that Bangladesh was doing well in responding to cyclones, but for dealing with earthquakes expertise needed to be developed.
Maj Gen Darrell L Moore of US Marine Corps, additional secretary of the Disaster Management Ministry Dr Jhanendra Nath Biswas Fire Services and Civil Defence director general Brig Gen Ali Ahmed Khan and Joint Operations director general of the Armed Forces Division Brig Gen Abu Sayeed Khan also addressed the roundtable.
United Nations Resident Coordinator Neal Walker, political and economic counselor of the US embassy in Dhaka Pushpinder Dhilon and officials from Bangladesh and US Army and Fire Service and Civil Defence department were also present on the occasion.
Following the roundtable, General Brooks along with journalists and others observed the field training exercise.
-With The Independent input
