Despite the potential to expand trade and investment with the United States, doing business in Bangladesh remains difficult. US Ambassador to Bangladesh Brent T. Christensen believes complex regulations, policy uncertainty, and opaque processes hinder efforts to attract quality foreign investment. He says American companies would be more interested in investing in Bangladesh if the country ensured a level playing field, a stable policy framework and transparent competition. In a recent interview with Bonik Barta, Christensen discusses implementing the two countries’ Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART), opportunities for cooperation in the energy and technology sectors, and the challenges facing Bangladesh’s investment climate. Interview conducted by Badrul Alam.

How are you, Ambassador?

Hello. I’m doing pretty well, although I’m a little jet-lagged because I’ve only been back in Bangladesh for a few days.

Ambassador, you recently returned from the United States, as you just mentioned. What were the key outcomes of your visit, particularly for US-Bangladesh trade and investment? Did you engage with any US companies?

Thanks for that question. I spent two weeks in the United States and returned to Bangladesh a few days ago. I spent about a week in Washington, DC, reconnecting with senior government officials to discuss the progress we’ve made in US-Bangladesh relations over the past 10 and a half months.

In DC, I also had a few other engagements. I sat down with a round table of the Hudson Institute and met business figures at a roundtable hosted by the Business Council for International Understanding.

I then travelled to California, starting in Silicon Valley, where I spoke to a number of companies, including Cisco, Meta, Nvidia, Apple, and Plug and Play. I also met several representatives of the diaspora community, especially those Bangladeshi Americans working in the tech sector.

I then went to Los Angeles, where I visited some great American companies: Anduril, SpaceX which also includes Starlink, Antares Nuclear and GrayMatter Robotics. I took part in a business roundtable hosted by the Port of Long Beach and met Bangladesh-American diaspora groups in the greater Los Angeles area.

I also had the wonderful opportunity to visit Stanford University, where I met with representatives of the medical school who are doing some great work here in Bangladesh on removing lead and addressing pollution from brick kilns, among other areas I think are of great value to Bangladesh. I also had a really robust discussion at the Hoover Institution.

Ambassador, what are your main priorities for strengthening the bilateral partnership between Bangladesh and the US?

Thanks for that question. You know, I’ve been ambassador here for just over 10 months, and my priorities have really been the same the entire time that I’ve been here. It really all goes back to that first letter between President Trump and Prime Minister Rahman in February.

My first priority is focused on commercial diplomacy. It’s about growing that economic relationship, growing those trade ties. That was why I went to California just a week ago, focusing on the information and communication technology sector. That’s why I take part in so many engagements on behalf of US businesses here in Bangladesh.

My second priority is combating illegal migration. This is a very big issue for the United States. It was one of the issues President Trump campaigned on and was elected on: the need to secure our borders. A visa is a privilege, not a right. We have to make sure that travellers to the United States are going for legitimate purposes and abiding by our laws when they travel there.

We are therefore very focused on addressing illegal migration. We’re working with the government of Bangladesh to take steps towards that goal and ensure that people travel for legitimate purposes. You know, this is not just a US-Bangladesh issue. It is a global issue. I bet if you spoke to any of my counterparts, they would also count illegal migration among their top bilateral issues here in the relationship.

My third priority is growing our defence ties. This was also mentioned in President Trump’s letter back in February. We’re seeking to expand our defence partnership, improve interoperability, grow our bilateral exercises and complete what we call our foundational agreements, including the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA). Bangladesh is one of the last friendly countries in the world with which we do not have these foundational agreements.

Of course, I’d also love to sell some of the best defence products in the world. We’ll see if we can make some of that happen.

Those are my three core priorities, but we’re also very focused on delivering our foreign assistance here. We still provide considerable assistance in the area of health under the America First global health strategy, which focuses on diseases that cross borders, including multidrug-resistant tuberculosis and Nipah virus. You’ve also seen us provide a lot of support recently as the government tries to deal with the severe measles outbreak in the country.

Of course, we remain the largest donor to the Rohingya response. During my time here alone, we have put $300 million into the response under the new UN OCHA mechanism.

What could the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) mean for Bangladeshi businesses and workers, and what would need to happen next to deliver those benefits?

So the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade, or the ART, as we like to call it for short, is really a bet on the future of Bangladesh. It provides a roadmap for growing the economic relationship between the two countries. It commits to free, fair and reciprocal trade. But reciprocal is a key point that I’m going to come back to.

It also outlines the steps Bangladesh needs to take to be competitive in the global economy. Things like improving customs, implementing labour standards, reducing corruption and improving infrastructure, all things that pretty much every politician in Bangladesh has said they’re in favour of.

The agreement outlines it all in one key document — 36 pages available on the USTR website, it’s not a secret. And I encourage everybody to go out and read that agreement because it really does outline the way to grow the economic relationship.

You know, the next step is implementation. It’s making the changes needed to unlock the economic potential of the relationship. We’re working closely with the government to do just that. We’ve seen some progress so far, and I’d love to see more.

But it really holds the key to unlocking Bangladesh’s economic future, both in terms of bilateral trade but also in terms of creating the business environment that Bangladesh needs for American and other companies to thrive.

And how could greater cooperation with US LNG and LPG suppliers help Bangladesh secure reliable supplies at competitive prices?

Energy is a really exciting area for our bilateral relationship. The United States is the most stable, reliable energy producer in the world, and we’re keen to help unlock some of that potential for Bangladesh.

Back in May, we signed a memorandum of understanding on energy that helps us do just that. We’ve already seen some major deals with US energy companies that provide long-term, stable energy supply contracts. That’s exactly what Bangladesh needs to grow its future.

Now, this is not always going to be easy because LNG, LPG — these are hot commodities. Many countries are trying to lock in long-term supply contracts. Of course, the private sector is going to do the deals it thinks are best. But there is still a lot of potential here. We’ve already seen US LPG and LNG exports grow considerably over the past year, from effectively zero.

Beyond fuel imports, what opportunities do you see for US investment in Bangladesh’s domestic energy production and infrastructure?

The United States is already very involved in Bangladesh’s energy sector. Chevron is not just the largest US investor but also the largest foreign investor in Bangladesh, and it produces more than 50 percent of the country’s domestic gas. Chevron would love to do more.

The US firm Excelerate operates the floating storage and regasification units right now. I know it is interested in doing more, and several other US companies are also interested in potentially pursuing similar projects.

GE Vernova has been here for years, building gas turbines for power plants in Bangladesh. So this is a sector with considerable potential for growth. Many US companies are interested, particularly given the memorandum of understanding, which opens up further opportunities for engagement.

Provided the playing field is level and US firms can compete fairly for projects, I think there will be a lot of interest going forward.

Do you have any observations on the level playing field?

This is one of the really important factors in attracting quality investment into Bangladesh. You have to have a level playing field. You have to have stable, predictable rules. You have to have transparency in the process.

You know, if firms do not feel they can actually compete for projects, or if they feel that there are sweetheart deals that are done in the back room, perhaps not in a transparent way and maybe even raising some eyebrows, especially in the media, that is going to dissuade companies from pursuing deals in the future.

If they see a transparent process and a level playing field, I think we’ll see a lot of interest in Bangladesh.

What changes would help Bangladesh attract more American investment?

So I’m not going to lie to you. Bangladesh is not an easy place to do business. There are very cumbersome rules and regulations. Policy outcomes and rules are not always predictable.

But this goes back to where the ART provides the roadmap going forward. The ART identifies the key areas, including standards, customs, taxes and regulations, that need to be predictable, need to be stable to unlock Bangladesh’s economic potential.

And so if Bangladesh follows through and implements things like science-based regulations, predictable tax policy, non-discriminatory rules, removes non-tariff trade barriers and other things like that, Bangladesh will create a much more competitive business environment.

This is not new. We have been documenting the challenges in Bangladesh’s business environment for years in our various annual reports. The new government is saying the right things in this area and has taken some very good steps. For example, it passed labour reforms earlier this year.

I would love to see more action, and I’d love to see it happen faster. But I think we’re on the right track, and we have the ART as a roadmap to guide us going forward.

How could American technology help Bangladesh reduce power losses, improve efficiency and lower energy costs for businesses and households?

The United States has a lot of great technological solutions in the energy sector. You know, everything from smart grids to the most cutting-edge power plants and turbines, and other technologies in the sector.

So I think that if there are commercially viable projects that we are able to pursue things again in a free, fair and transparent manner, there is a lot of US technology that could be brought to bear to improve Bangladesh’s energy sector for the benefit of the country.

I also want to mention a few new areas where we’re exploring opportunities. One of those is US ethanol. We’re looking at new partners interested in adding ethanol to their fuel blends and are looking for ways to support them.

I think there’s a lot of potential for cleaner-burning fuel with ethanol. There are also other areas of fuel diversification, such as possible collaboration in nuclear power.

What does the new civil nuclear cooperation memorandum make possible? And what further steps would be needed before commercial projects could proceed?

A few weeks ago, we signed a nuclear cooperation memorandum of understanding. What that does, really, is signal to US nuclear companies that Bangladesh is a market where we see potential for further collaboration and the possible deployment of the best nuclear technology in the world, particularly in the area of small modular reactors.

You know, those very small-scale nuclear power plants are taking the world by storm. We’re seeing SMR projects going up across the United States, Europe and elsewhere.

I had the chance, when I was in California, to visit one of our companies, Antares Nuclear, which is focused on micro-modular reactors. These are very small-scale nuclear power plants with clean, safe technology that can power an industrial zone or another small project cleanly and reliably.

This is really a signal that these companies can pursue opportunities in Bangladesh and continue discussions going forward. There will be additional steps required, including binding agreements related to nuclear safety and security, before we could actually export US nuclear technology.

But discussions can start now because a nuclear plant is not a quick project. It is going to take several years, especially when you’re dealing with cutting-edge technology such as small modular reactors.

The key for Bangladesh is to get into the queue now because the entire world is focused on this technology. The sooner that Bangladesh can lock in some opportunities in this space, the sooner it will be able to bring them online and help power the country’s future.

Ambassador, you previously served in Bangladesh as a political officer and have now returned as ambassador. How has your experience of Bangladesh been since you returned, and how was the Durga Puja celebration this year?

It’s been great to be back in Bangladesh, and it’s really fun to be back as the US ambassador. There’s really no better job in the world.

I’ve had the chance as ambassador to get out and explore much more of the country. You know, when I was here before, we faced both security restrictions and COVID restrictions, so I wasn’t able to travel as freely.

I think you’ve seen that I’ve been everywhere from Cox’s Bazar, Chattogram and Barisal to Rajshahi, Panchagarh, Thakurgaon, Saidpur, Rangpur and Sylhet. I still have a few places to visit. I haven’t made it to Khulna or the Hill Tracts yet. They’re both on the list.

But it’s been a great way to get out, connect with people and experience more of Bangladesh.

This was actually my first Durga Puja. You know, when I was here before, COVID restrictions forced its cancellation. So it was great to visit the Hindu communities in Old Dhaka and Narayanganj, take part in some of the celebrations and see this rich part of Bangladesh’s heritage.

You know, it was a really fun experience. I was able to combine it with some other visits such as Panam Nagar, see some Jamdani weaving, visit Bose’s Cabin, drink some tea, explore the history of anti-British plots, and really get out and experience more of Bangladesh.

So it was great to celebrate, and I’m really thankful to the communities that let me join their puja events.

Looking ahead, what practical progress would you most like to see in US-Bangladesh trade, investment and energy cooperation?

Like I said, I’ve been here for just over 10 months, and I really think the US-Bangladesh relationship is on the right track. We saw that reinforced when Prime Minister Tarique Rahman and President Trump had their interaction on the margins of the UN General Assembly a few weeks ago.

My focus is really on a few key things, as discussed. We have a great roadmap for the economic relationship in the ART, the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade. I want to build on that relationship. I want to make sure the ART is implemented to the benefit of both countries and to grow those trade ties so that we can grow reciprocal trade and really expand our economic relationship.

I’m very interested in how we can grow cooperation in information and communication technology. You know, the prime minister has said he wants a million new jobs in that sector. The only way that happens is with US tech companies.

So how do we create the right environment and opportunities for US tech companies here in Bangladesh, again to the benefit of both countries? That means trusted infrastructure, a sound regulatory environment and clear rules that allow US tech companies to operate here, again to the benefit of both countries.

I’m also focused on how we build out the relationship of the future across economics, defence and assistance, putting together a complete package that will put US-Bangladesh relations on a sound footing for years to come.

Ambassador, thank you so much for giving us your time. It was really nice talking to you.

Likewise. Thanks for your time. Great to see you, and it was a great interview.