On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Fulbright Exchange Program, Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, Distinguished Fellow at the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), shared his inspirations from Senator J. William Fulbright by quoting two of his famous sayings – “In a democracy, dissent is an act of faith” and “The citizen who criticizes his country is paying it an implied tribute”. Dr Debapriya recalled these quotes while delivering his keynote address at the opening session of the Fulbright program on 28 October 2021.
The Fulbright Program was setup in 1946 with an annual provision of nearly 8,000 awards in over 160 countries. The study, teaching and research activities of more than 650 Bangladesh Fulbright alumni have advanced bilateral ties and profoundly contributed to the country’s intellectual and development capacities. In the 2019-2020 academic year, Bangladesh was one of the fastest countries in sending international students to the U.S; where over 8,800 students have availed themselves the program support with an overwhelming majority in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
In his keynote speech, Dr Debapriya highlighted the strengthening of U.S.-Bangladesh economic ties in the fields of foreign aid, trade, investment and remittance flows. The U.S. has been the single largest export market of Bangladesh and a growing source of imports; it is also one of the principal sources of official development assistance and foreign direct investment. In the recent past, the US accounted for a significant increment in remittance flows to the country. He maintained that the bilateral partnership is aligned with Bangladesh’s development aspirations as evident in USA’s support for post-COVID recovery, LDC graduation and SDG delivery.
Click here to read the full speech by Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya.
