Foreign minister urges US to convince Myanmar on Rohingya issue

New Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen has sought the US support to resolve the Rohingya crisis “amicably”.

He said he has requested the ambassador in Dhaka to make use of the Washington’s good relations with other countries to convince Myanmar to end the crisis.

“He said they would do that,” the minister said after his meeting with Ambassador Earl Miller on Thursday at his office.

It was the first official meeting between them.

The ambassador told reporters that they discussed issues related to “good governance, democracy and how we can build on strong US-Bangladesh relations including economic partnership, military sales, and Indo-Pacific ties”.

He recalled the foreign minister’s “long and enduring personal” ties with the US as he studied in many US universities and served as Bangladesh’s permanent representative in the UN for six years from 2009.

Miller said he invited the minister to visit Washington.

Asked about the discussions on governance and democracy issues, Foreign Minister Momen said they appreciated the elections.

“Some quarters said that something happened…those who are complaining can go to the Election Commission with their information,” the minister suggested.

He said he had requested the ambassador to extradite the self-confessed killer of Bangabandhu, to which the ambassador said he would relay the message to the Washington.

“I told him you would have forced it if someone convicted in court was hiding in our country. We also want him back based on our own court verdict. He is a self-confessed killer.”

The ambassador asked Bangladesh to buy military equipment from the US.

“I told him your products are expensive. We look for cost-effective options,” Momen said.

The foreign minister said there are scopes to strengthen the bilateral relations.

“They have scopes to invest here. We have given economic roadmap and they can help us in this regard,” he said.