"Success of reform measures taken by the caretaker government will benefit the people," said US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State John Gastright at the House Committee on Foreign Affairs in the Capitol Hill in Washington on Wednesday during a testimony given in the US Congressional Committee.

His remarks came a week after US President George W Bush appreciated Bangladesh's election roadmap. Bush made his statement on July 26 when new Bangladeshi envoy to US presented his credentials at the White House.

According to a release issued by Bangladesh Embassy in Washington, Gastright said the caretaker government has undertaken a series of reform measures, which will benefit the people of Bangladesh, if carried out successfully.

He said the reforms measures taken by the government are necessary to restore integrity of the government and ensure proper funding of public programmes from tax revenue and impartiality of the criminal justice system.

"But it is also essential to free Bangladesh's economy from corruption to allow it to function properly and become more efficient in order to continue to grow and expand," he added.

At the hearing, US Congressional Committee members on Foreign Affairs hoped that the ban on political activities would be lifted soon and the government would stick to the deadline of holding the general elections by 2008 as per the roadmap.

When the Committee asked him about how things are progressing in Bangladesh, Gastright said the government had expressed its determination to stick to the election roadmap.

Commenting on the law and order situation in Bangladesh, the US State Department official said there were fewer incidences of law and order in recent months. He particularly referred to fall in number of deaths in custody or at the hands of the Rapid Action Battalion (Rab).

Lauding the economic reform agenda of the caretaker government, Gastright mentioned the World Bank and IMF reports and said the GDP growth reached 6.7 percent for the fiscal year 2006-'07, "was the strongest on record since Bangladesh's Independence."

Describing Bangladesh as America's "long-standing partner", he assured the Congressional Committee that the United States would continue working with Bangladesh, which is "in transition" as "it moves through this important period in its history."

He also informed the Committee of the initiatives taken by major political parties "for fundamental changes in party leadership and structure for internal party democracy" and expressed the US desire to "actively follow these developments."

The hearing was presided over by Chairman of the Committee Congressman Gary L Ackerman and attended by Congressmen Joseph Crowley, Steve Chabot, Frank Pallone and Congresswoman Jackson Lee.