Bangladesh
Bangladesh-US Dhaka-Washington to hold bilateral meeting on Monday
Own Correspondent, Dhaka, April 2: Bangladesh and the United States will be holding a bilateral meeting on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of their relationship.
In the meeting, which is scheduled to be held in Washington on Monday (April 4), Dhaka will focus on working together in new areas, including moving forward in the coming days, lifting US sanctions on the RAB, investment, climate change, the Rohingya issue, and repatriation of killer Rashed.
Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen gave the hints while talking to journalists at his residence in Eskaton on Friday (April 1) about the Dhaka-Washington bilateral meeting.
According to the Foreign Ministry, Dr. Momen will leave Dhaka for Washington on Saturday night. Dr. Momen, during his five-day visit, will hold a bilateral meeting with the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken next Monday on the occasion of the golden jubilee of diplomatic relations between the two nations.
Dr. Momen said he will raise the issue of RAB in the meeting.
"I will raise the RAB issue. They would say, there might be a process. We want to tell them that this organization [RAB] has reduced terrorism in our country. Not only in our country, this organization also decreased terrorism in our neighbouring countries too. ‘They (RAB) are very effective and efficient’. So you should respect them (RAB). The decision you made, we understand you have a process. We hope they would respond positively," Momen said.
The eighth partnership dialogue between Bangladesh and the United States was held on March 20 in Dhaka. At the end of the dialogue, Victoria Nuland, the US State Department's Under Secretary of State for Politics, told reporters that lifting the ban on the RAB was a complex process. More work needs to be done in this regard. However, the Under Secretary also said that her country was satisfied with the three-month activities of the RAB after the ban.
Discussing the meeting, the Foreign Minister said, "My visit this time is about how we can build a relationship in the next 50 years. We will discuss how we can increase the investment further. The Rohingya issue will come up in the discussion. There will also be climate issues."
