Biden and Clinton rally behind Bangladesh leader Yunus

US President Joe Biden on Tuesday met Bangladesh's interim leader Muhammad Yunus on the margins of the UN's annual summit, in a show of support after an uprising toppled the country's autocratic government.

Yunus, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, later received high praise from former president Bill Clinton, who hailed their 40-year-long friendship and the global impact of the Bangladeshi's pioneering microfinance loans.

The 84-year-old economist was appointed the country's "chief advisor" in August following the bloody, student-led movement that ousted premier Sheikh Hasina, who has since fled the country.

Biden offered "continued US support as Bangladesh implements its new reform agenda", a White House statement said.

The US-Bangladesh relationship "is rooted in shared democratic values and strong people-to-people ties," it said.

According to a readout provided by Bangladeshi officials, Yunus briefed Biden on how the students "rose against the tyranny of the previous government and gave their lives to create this opportunity to rebuild Bangladesh", and said his interim government would need US help to rebuild the nation.

Yunus also presented Biden with a book featuring paintings made by the students.

Yunus was later invited to speak at the Clinton Global Initiative's annual meeting, where former president Clinton said "few people on this planet have done as much (as Yunus) to change the lives of ordinary people who would never have had access to credit".

Their friendship dates back to the 1980s, when Clinton, then governor of Arkansas, invited Yunus to visit and share his approach to alleviating poverty through small loans, which had successfully empowered impoverished Bangladeshi women without access to traditional banking services.

"You're the only old guy I know who was ever drafted for his eminent position by the young people of his country," Clinton quipped about Yunus's elevation to interim leader. "That's because he has succeeded in doing what we all must do: we all have to stay in the future business."

While the United States had generally maintained a cooperative relationship with Hasina, an ally of India and a partner on issues like combating Islamist extremism, Washington had criticised her government's democratic backsliding.