The inaugural meeting of the US-Bangladesh Labor Working Group was held in Washington Thursday to discuss collaboration and assistance to Bangladesh as it seeks to implement stricter labour laws to conform to international norms and standards.

US Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment Jose W. Fernandez and Salman F. Rahman, Adviser for Private Industry and Investment to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh and a member of parliament, led the US and Bangladeshi delegations respectively.  

During the meeting, the two sides discussed collaboration and assistance to Bangladesh as it takes further steps to implement the requirements developed by Bangladesh for its International Labor Organization (ILO) roadmap and adhere to internationally recognized labor rights, the State Department said. 

The objective of the meeting was to support Bangladeshi implementation of commitments to improve labor rights protections and to further economic cooperation between the United States and Bangladesh, it said.

In September, the US Department of Labor announced an award of $3 million to the American Center for International Labor Solidarity for a project to improve working conditions and labor rights standards in Bangladesh’s readymade garments, tea, shrimp farming and construction industries.

The funding will support workers’ rights to collectively seek remediation for issues related to workplace safety and gender-based harassment in Sylhet, Khulna and Dhaka in Bangladesh.