Bangladesh Foreign Secretary’s meetings with US senior officials in Washington, D.C.

Shamim Ahmad, Washington, D.C : Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh Md. Shahidul Haque visited Washington, D.C. on 16 February 2018. His first meeting was with Lisa Curtis, Deputy Assistant to the President and Senior Director for South and Central Asia at the National Security Council in The White House.  During the meeting, they discussed bilateral, regional and global security issues. Ms. Curtis conveyed President Trump’s deep appreciation for Bangladesh for hosting more than a million forcibly displaced Rohingyas from Myanmar. She also assured the Foreign Secretary of US’s continued political and humanitarian support to Bangladesh in addressing this huge man-made crisis. On Foreign Secretary’s request, Ms. Curtis elaborated on some aspects of the US Administration’s Indo-Pacific Strategy.  Foreign Secretary Haque then met with Ambassador Alice Wells, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the South and Central Asian Affairs Bureau at the US Department of State. Ambassador Wells conveyed to Foreign Secretary Haque Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is seized with the issue and commended Bangladesh’s extremely generous attitude and efforts to shelter such a huge number of persecuted Rohingyas from Myanmar. They discussed various aspects of the growing partnership between Bangladesh-US Partnership and emphasized the need for further strengthening and expanding the same in the coming days. Foreign Secretary Haque’s third and last meeting was with Ambassador Mark Storella, Acting Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration at the US Department of State. Foreign Secretary Haque Bangladesh Government’s sincere thanks to the US Government for the latter’s strong support to Bangladesh to address the Rohingya crisis. Ambassador Storella hugely praised Bangladesh’s humane approach, despite its own resource constrains, to host more than a million Rohingya people from Myanmar who fled the atrocities in northern Rakhine and took shelter in Bangladesh. He also said that the US would continue to provide humanitarian assistance to these forcibly displaced Rohingyas in Bangladesh. The meetings were held in friendly and cordial atmosphere. Foreign Secretary Md. Shahidul Haque left Washington, D.C. on 17 February 2018.