US Ambassador to Bangladesh Earl R Miller met Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Thursday afternoon and discussed various issues of mutual interest.
After his first official meeting with the new Foreign Minister, Ambassador Miller told reporters at the Foreign Ministry that he would love seeing Foreign Minister Dr Momen travels to the United States.
The envoy mentioned about Minister Dr Momen’s strong and enduring ties with the US at various levels.
Miller said they talked about democracy and good governance and discussed ways on how the two countries build strong partnership on all fronts, including trade and economic partnership.
The Ambassador said he had the opportunity to meet Dr Momen on the election day (Dec 30) in Sylhet and hoped to have more officials meetings in the coming days.
Ambassador Miller, who arrived in Dhaka on November 18 last year, is a career member of the US senior foreign service, joined the Department of State in 1987.
He served as US Ambassador to Botswana from 2014 to 2018 and Consul General at the US Consulate General in Johannesburg, South Africa, from 2011 to 2014.
Ambassador Miller also served in Washington, San Francisco, Miami and Boston and at US embassies in El Salvador, Malaysia, Indonesia, Iraq, and India.
UNB further adds: Bangladesh has urged the United States to send back Rashed Chowdhury, the fugitive killer of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, now staying in the US with political asylum.
“I urged him (US Ambassador) to send Rashed Chowdhury back,” Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen told reporters on Thursday after his meeting with the US Ambassador to Bangladesh Earl R Miller at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Dr Momen said informed the US envoy that the USA used to bring back their convicted fugitives from other countries.
Following the US path, he said, Bangladesh wants to bring back the fugitive self-confessed killer (Rashed) who had been convicted by a court under a free judicial trail.
The Foreign Minister referred that earlier the USA deported Mohiuddin Ahmed, another convicted killer of Bangabandhu, to Bangladesh.
The Foreign Minister also said the US envoy appreciated the last 11th parliament election.
“We didn’t discuss that much over the election as the Ambassador visited my constituency to observe the polls on the election day,” he said.
Referring to Rohingya issue, the Foreign Minister urged the US to request those countries which maintain close relations with Myanmar so that they can take affective steps to resolve the crisis.
The Ambassador assured the Foreign Minister that the USA would extend its all support to Bangladesh for resolving the Rohingya problem.
The Foreign Minister said they also discussed various issues related to trade and commerce, including the purchase of military equipment.
About the purchase of Military equipment, he said he informed the US envoy that Bangladesh is open to all regarding military purchase and it prefers cost effective goods.
“I urged them to invest more in Bangladesh, especially in the energy sector, as we set target to generate 24,000 MW by 2021,” he said.
