Bangladesh-US expresses desire for close collaboration

Bangladesh and United States (US) have expressed desire for close collaboration to address challenges in South Asia and the greater Indo-Pacific region.

This was reflected while US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken spoke over phone with Bangladeshi Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen on Wednesday (Bangladesh time), according to a US state department statement, reports BSS.

During the talk, the two foreign ministers discussed ways to deepen economic, counterterrorism, and defense cooperation, and work together to address common challenges such as climate change, it said.

“The two leaders also discussed Burma (Myanmar), a durable solution to the Rohingya refugee crisis, and the importance of respect for labor and human rights,” read the statement.

Secretary Blinken congratulated Foreign Minister Momen on Bangladesh’s fiftieth anniversary of independence in 2021, it added.

Dr Momen left here for Washington DC on February 22 for his first ever visit to the USA after Biden administration took over oval office of White House.

“We don’t have any specific issue, we will have broad-based discussion,” he told reporters prior to his visit.

Apart from talk with secretary of state, the Bangladesh foreign minister is scheduled to have a series of meetings with different signatories of the new US administration.

Dhaka wants to develop much solid relations with the USA as the new administration is in place there.

Earlier, Momen hoped the US’s new administration of President Biden would take the issue of deporting Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s convicted fugitive killer Rashed Chowdhury ‘seriously’ as it could be a ‘game changer’ in Bangladesh-US partnership.