Staff Reporter :Visiting US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Nisha Desai Biswal held a meeting with BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia at her Gulshan political office in the city on Friday evening. US Ambassador to Dhaka Dan W Mozena and several other senior officials of the US Embassy were present in the 70-minute long meeting. BNP Acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, Vice-Chairman Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury, Chairperson’s Advisers Sabih Uddin Ahmed and Reaz Rahman were also present there. After the meeting, Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury told the journalists that Nisha Biswal emphasized on strengthening democracy in the South Asian countries for sustainable development and economic cooperation in the region. In reply, Khaleda Zia praised the role of the USA in development of SAARC. According the BNP leader, Khaleda Zia and Nisha Biswal discussed different bilateral issues and some other issues. BNP’s political relation with the US administration is good, said Shamsher Mobin while Nisha Biswal emphasised on upholding the relation and hoped that it will be more strengthened in the coming days. Sources said that the issue of the Januray-5 election was also discussed in the meeting. Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury, however, did not elaborate in this regard. Just before the meeting, Nisha Biswal held a 30-minute long meeting with Opposition Leader in the Parliament Raushan Ershad at her residence in the capital. During the meeting, they discussed about the January-5 election and Nisha Biswal asked Raushan when the next parliamentary election would take place?The US Assistant Secretary of State arrived in Dhaka on Thursday on a three-day visit. Before her arrival in Dhaka, she attended the 18th SAARC Summit that ended on Thursday in Kathmandu in Nepal. During her stay, she will also have meetings with high-level government officials, political leaders and the leaders of labour, RMG sector and business community.This is her second visit to Dhaka. She also visited Bangladesh after she was made the Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs last year. In February last, she termed the January-5 election as ‘deeply flawed’ one and said this could have serious ramifications for stability in Bangladesh, because the election did not credibly express the opinion of the Bangladeshi people.
