Assistant Secretary of State Donald Lu arrives in Dhaka on January 14

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Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu will travel to India and Bangladesh January 12-15, for meetings on a range of priorities including energy, trade, security cooperation, religious freedom, labor, and human rights.

In India, the Assistant Secretary will participate in the India-US Forum.

Assistant Secretary Donald Lu will also meet with senior Indian officials to discuss ways in which the United States and India can further expand energy, trade, security, and human rights cooperation.

While in Bangladesh, Assistant Secretary Lu will meet with senior Bangladeshi officials and civil society leaders to discuss strengthening our bilateral relationship, expanding economic engagement and hear their perspectives on labor and human rights.

Donald Lu became Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs on September 15, 2021.  Prior to this assignment, Assistant Secretary Lu served as the U.S. Ambassador to the Kyrgyz Republic from 2018 to 2021 and the U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Albania from 2015-2018. Before his posting in Albania, Assistant Secretary Lu worked on the Ebola crisis in West Africa as the Deputy Coordinator for Ebola Response in the Department of State.

Assistant Secretary of State Donald Lu is a Foreign Service Officer with more than 30 years of U.S. government service. He served as Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) in India (2010-2013), Chargé d’Affaires (2009-2010) and DCM (2007-2009) in Azerbaijan, and as DCM in Kyrgyzstan (2003-2006).

Earlier in his career he was assigned as Deputy Director in the Office of Central Asian and South Caucasus Affairs, Bureau of European Affairs (2001-2003), Special Assistant to the Ambassador for the Newly Independent States in the Office of the Secretary of State (2000-2001), Political Officer in New Delhi, India (1997-2000), Special Assistant to the Ambassador in New Delhi, India (1996-1997), Consular Officer in Tbilisi, Georgia (1994-1996), and Political Officer in Peshawar, Pakistan (1992-1994). As a Peace Corps volunteer in Sierra Leone, West Africa from 1988-1990, he helped to restore hand-dug water wells and to teach health education and latrine construction.

Assistant Secretary Donald Lu is from Huntington Beach, California.  He graduated from Princeton University with both master’s and bachelor’s degrees in international relations. He speaks Albanian, Russian, Georgian, Azerbaijani, Urdu, Hindi, and West African Krio.  He enjoys biking, watching movies, traveling, and spending time with his family.

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