The New Nation - Internet Edition

bdnews24.com, New York

US congressman Joseph Crowley has asked the Bangladesh government to gear up its anti-graft drive.

Crowley, chairman of the Congressional Bangladesh Caucus, also stressed the need for "greater awareness" to guard against violation of human rights in a meeting with a delegation of the Bangladeshi-American

Public Affairs Front in New York on Friday.

Citing the US State Department's just-released Millennium Challenge Corporation scorecards, the congressman said Bangladesh has made considerable progress development indicators, gaining "impressively" in governance scores among others.

He said Barack Obama's administration is determined to approve an Immigration Reform Bill at the end of the next year. The passage of the bill would legalise the status of many Bangladeshis living in the US.

Crowley also said US secretary of state Hillary Clinton and Patrick Kennedy, son of late senator Edward Kennedy, who was a great supporter of Bangladesh, are likely to visit Bangladesh in mid-2010.

Hasanuzzaman Hassan, the president of the Bangladeshi-American Public Affairs Front, led its delegation in the meeting.

The Congressional Bangladesh Caucus was formed in 2003 under the leadership of Crowley, who was first elected to Congress in 1998.