US unwilling to negotiate TIFA now: Boucher................

The United States does not want to negotiate on signing the trade and investment framework agreement (TIFA) with Bangladesh at this moment, US assistant secretary of state Richard Boucher says.

Following his talks with foreign minister Dipu Moni at her foreign ministry office, Boucher said president Barack Obama's new administration wanted to examine the proposed TIFA first and then decide it fate.

"We did not really talk about TIFA today," Boucher told reporters.

"At this point frankly we don't have active negotiation. The administration in Washington wants to look at our various trade agreements and negotiations before we get started again with any of them.

"So we put on hold the whole number of discussions around the world. So, I think we just let this once sit for a while, which will give us the chance to look at it ourselves and make sure that the new administration wants to proceed in the same way and then pick up," he said.

He said TIFA was a simple trade agreement according to which both the countries could discuss common issues to boost up trade and investment.

Boucher praised the initiatives set out by the new government in Dhaka.

"I find that the agenda [prime minister Sheikh Hasina] laid out for Bangladesh both domestically and in foreign affairs (are) really very similar to the kind of things we like to work with.

"We talked about specific areas of development and priority, we talked about working against terrorism, support for South Asian task force against terrorism if that can be organised.

"We talked about working together on climate change which is a high priority for the new administration in Washington as well as the new administration in Dhaka," Boucher said.

He said his country supported the government move of strengthening democracy, moving against corruption, working hard against terrorism and bringing benefits of development to the people of Bangladesh.

Boucher, who came to Dhaka on Saturday morning, was supposed to meet Hasina on Sunday afternoon.

He will leave Dhaka for India at 5pm on Sunday, according to the US embassy.