The Rohingya crisis and US investments in Bangladesh will be the top issues on the agenda when Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen meets US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the State Department on Monday (Apr 8).
Momen, who arrived in Washington on Sunday, has a packed schedule over the next two days and is expected to discuss bilateral, regional and international issues in his various meetings.
“This is the highest-level meeting between our two governments after the December 30 elections,” Bangladesh embassy spokesperson Shamim Ahmed told Bangla Tribune.
He said the foreign minister will also meet Alice Wells, the US Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs on Monday followed by a meeting with the Deputy National Security Advisor Charles Kupperman at The White House.
On Tuesday, Momen will meet the USAID administrator Mark Green and then several other officials in Washington.
According to an official, Bangladesh will be seeking new investments from the US under the newly passed Better Utilisation of Investments Leading to Development Act (BUILD Act) to develop infrastructure projects.
The BUILD Act aims to facilitate the participation of private sector capital and skills in the economic development of countries with low or lower-middle-income economies.
The USAID administrator is the vice-chair of the body that looks after these investments aimed at sustainable, broad-based economic growth, poverty reduction, and development, and Tuesday’s meeting with Green will be significant in that respect.
The Rohingya crisis and the return of the refugees to Myanmar are expected to be discussed at the USAID meeting as well.
Washington is also expected to raise the issue of human rights violations during the recent elections, as mentioned in the latest Human Rights report.
Bangladesh will present its point of view and clear the matter, according to an official.
The issue of restoring the GSP scheme for Bangladesh may come up but it’s not very high on the agenda.
The US ambassador to Bangladesh, Earl R Miller, had recently stated that bilateral trade between the two countries has expanded in recent years and US investors consider Bangladesh an important business destination.
The US government has been supportive of Bangladesh and the two countries are working together on several projects, including the development of a Drone project for UN peacekeeping operations.