The two-day third Bangladesh-US Partnership Dialogue will begin in the US capital Washington DC on October 21, focusing on the expansion of security, trade and development ties between the two countries.

Issues related to labour, regional connectivity, climate change, counter terrorism and food security will come up during the dialogue, which is aimed to bolster bilateral and regional cooperation between Bangladesh and the United States.

Official sources said Dhaka will ask the US side to take a considerate view in the next Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) review for Bangladesh as the country has already implemented most of the preconditions in the "Bangladesh Action Plan 2013".

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Dhaka will also stress on the importance of allowing duty-free, quota-free access of Bangladeshi products to the US markets.

Foreign Secretary Md Shahidul Haque will lead a 10-member Bangladesh delegation at the discussion with his counterpart Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs of the United States Wendy R Sherman.

Representatives from the ministries and divisions of foreign, commerce, energy, home, food and disaster management, economic relations and armed forces were included in the

Bangladesh delegation.

The Bangladesh foreign secretary, who is now performing Hajj after attending the 69th UN General Assembly last month, will move for the US from Milan in Italy after attending the 10th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Summit from October 15-18.

The dialogue will also assess the US-Bangladesh partnership and discuss how it can be strengthened with a strategic direction highlighting the shared values.

The dialogue will be held following the signing of a joint declaration on "Bangladesh-US Partnership

Dialogue" on May 5 in 2012 in Dhaka during former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit.

The first dialogue was held in Washington DC on September 19-20 in 2012 and the second was held in Dhaka on May 26-27,2013.

Partnership Dialogue is the premier forum for further expanding and deepening bilateral cooperation on bilateral and regional issues, including development, civil society and governance, trade and investment, security and countering violent extremism, science and technology, women's empowerment and gender equality.