DHAKA, 03 January 2022, (TON): The United States reiterated its call on Bangladesh to maintain a continued commitment to democracy and human rights.

USAID administrator Samantha Power, who enjoys the rank of a cabinet minister in the US administration of president Joe Biden, put the emphasis in a video message made available by the US ambassador in Bangladesh Earl Miller in a tweet on Sunday evening.

Samantha Power disseminated the video message primarily congratulating Bangladesh for achieving the status of a middle-income country.

Describing Bangladesh’s success as an outcome of focused effort to meet the need of the deprived section of the people, she said the two countries made investments for lifting the populace from poverty, economically empowering women and securing health and safety for them slashing new-born mortality by two-third since 1990 and cutting national poverty rate into half in last 20 years.

The USAID administrator said ‘these gains have not been easy and building on them will require a continued commitment to democracy and human rights against the backdrop of the pandemic and the refugee crisis at your doorstep.”