Washington DC, 07 April 2022 :Foreign Minister Dr. AK Abdul Momen, MP, yesterday (6 April) held meetings with two US lawmakers and discussed various issues with them.

The Bangladesh Foreign Minister held separate meetings with Senator Jon Ossoff (Democrat-Georgia); and Congressman Ami Bera (Democrat-California), the Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, Central Asia, and Nonproliferation. The meetings took place at the respective offices of the Senator and the Congressman at the US Capitol.

In his meetings with the US lawmakers, Foreign Minister Momen briefed them on the impressive socioeconomic development that has taken place in Bangladesh under the dynamic and visionary leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The US lawmakers highly appreciated Bangladesh’s tremendous development.

Dr. Momen thankfully acknowledged the strong U.S. humanitarian and political support to Bangladesh in dealing with the Rohingya crisis created by Myanmar by forcibly displacing more than 1.1 million Myanmar nationals from Rakhine State to Bangladesh.

He requested the US lawmakers to persuade Myanmar in all possible ways to create a safe and secure environment in Rakhine State and take back all the forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals temporarily staying in Bangladesh to their homeland in Myanmar.

The US lawmakers commended Bangladesh’s generosity in hosting this huge number of Rohingyas and said that they would continue their efforts in this regard.

The Foreign Minister also called for increased trade and investment of the US in Bangladesh. He raised the issue of deportation of Rashed Chowdhury, the self-confessed killer of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and sought the support of the Senator and the Congressman in this regard.

Seeking the US lawmakers’ support on lifting of US sanctions on RAB, the Foreign Minister expressed Bangladesh’s expectations that the sanctions on RAB would be withdrawn soon. He also sought their support to revitalize the Congressional Bangladesh Caucus.

The Foreign Minister and the US lawmakers underscored the importance of further expanding the trade and investment relations between Bangladesh and the United States and deepening the excellent partnership in the coming days.

Mahbubul Alam Hanif, Member of Parliament, M Shahidul Islam, Ambassador of Bangladesh to the United States, Shabbir Ahmad Chowdhury, Secretary (West) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and officials of Bangladesh Embassy in Washington D.C. were present in the meetings.