A week after President Donald Trump greeted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on her third straight term, the US has expressed its interest to sell military hardware to Bangladesh.
The US envoy in Dhaka raised the issue on Thursday (Jan 31) during a meeting with Foreign Minister AKA Momen.
Speaking to the media after the meeting, Momen said that Ambassador Earl Miller raised the matter. “I told him we are open to all regarding procurement of military hardware but added we prefer cost-effective equipment.”
Dhaka has urged Washington to extradite Rashed Chowdhury, the fugitive Bangabandhu assassination convict, said the foreign minister.
Momen said he told the envoy that the USA is used to bring back their fugitive convicts from other countries. “Following the USA’s path, we want back the fugitive convict,” he said.
The US ambassador assured of conveying the request to Washington, said Momen.
Washington would extend its all support to Bangladesh for resolving the Rohingya crisis, according to the foreign minister.
Speaking to the reporters after the meeting Ambassador Miller said, “We talked about good governance, democracy and how we could build a strong US- Bangladesh relationship, including economic partnership, military sale and Indo Pacific strategy.”
Miller said he is happy to meet a person like Momen as the Bangladesh foreign minister who have studied and taught at US universities.