New USAID mission director Derrick Brown in Dhaka

New USAID Bangladesh mission director Derrick S Brown. Photo: UNB
New USAID Bangladesh mission director Derrick S Brown. Photo: UNB

New USAID Bangladesh mission director Derrick S Brown has arrived in Dhaka to take charge of his new duties.

Brown was sworn in as mission director for USAID on 9 July and arrived here on 14 July, says UNB.

Before joining USAID Bangladesh, he served as USAID mission director in Angola from 2016 to 2018.

He also served as USAID deputy mission director in Indonesia for three years and acting mission director for a year, said a press release on Tuesday.

Prior to that, he served in Botswana, Tanzania, Mozambique, Ghana, the Dominican Republic and Afghanistan.

As a senior foreign service officer holding the rank of counselor, Brown brings to the position more than 28 years of development experience and is well prepared to face the development challenges presented in Bangladesh.

The US government, through USAID, has provided more than $7 billion in development assistance to Bangladesh since 1971.

In 2017, USAID provided over $212 million to improve the lives of people in Bangladesh through programmes that expand food security and economic opportunity, improve health and education, promote democratic institutions and practices, protect the environment, and increase resiliency to climate change.