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including Bangladesh, are facing serious challenges in ensuring energy security due to the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East.

“This MoU would contribute to the efforts of Bangladesh to enhance its long-term energy security by diversifying its energy sourcing options based on affordability and supply chain sustainability and would open up new avenues of broader energy cooperation between Bangladesh and USA,” the statement said.

In his brief remarks at the signing ceremony, Khalilur termed the MoU another milestone in the growing Bangladesh-US relationship.

He said energy security was critical for all countries.

“We feel it every day given the war going on,” Khalilur said.

“This MoU will give us a long-term energy access to Bangladesh,” he said, thanking the US government for what he said was lifting a heavy weight at this time.

US Energy Secretary Wright described the MoU as a historic development in Bangladesh-US ties.

“Partnership between Bangladesh and the US was great in the past and will be so in the future,” he said in a short speech.

Bangladesh Embassy officials and senior officials of the US Department of Energy were present at the signing ceremony.

A foreign ministry official told this correspondent that the MoU means Bangladesh will buy more energy from the US and that it will support long-term energy cooperation between the two countries.

“Bangladesh’s energy ministry will eventually sign purchase agreements with US companies to buy energy, be it LNG, LPG, diesel or petrol,” he said.

The details of the prices will be included in the purchase agreements, not in the MoU, the official added.

Earlier on May 13, US Ambassador Brent T Christensen discussed expanding energy cooperation with leading American energy companies.

The envoy met Javier La Rosa, president of Chevron, and Steven Kobos, president and chief executive officer of Excelerate Energy, to discuss ongoing cooperation in Bangladesh’s energy sector, the US embassy in Dhaka said.

Chevron currently supplies nearly 60 percent of Bangladesh’s natural gas.

They discussed ways to meet Bangladesh’s growing energy demand through American innovation and expanded LNG and energy infrastructure.

The envoy recently led a delegation of 25 Bangladeshi business leaders to the SelectUSA Investment Summit in Washington, DC.