Hon’ble Foreign Minister of Bangladesh, Dr. A. K. Abdul Momen, MP, is currently visiting Washington, D.C. on an invitation from the US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, to participate in the Second Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom being held in the US Department of State from 16 to 18 July 2019.
Dr. Momen arrived in Washington, D.C. Wednesday morning and spent the day meeting with a number of important and influential US lawmakers. He met with Senator James E. Risch (Republican – Idaho), Chairman, Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Senator Bob Menendez (Democrat – New Jersey), Ranking Member of the same Committee. He also met with Congressman Eliot Engel (Democrat- New York), Chairman, House Foreign Affairs Committee, Congressman Brad Sherman (Democrat – California), Chairman, Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, and Nonproliferation, of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, and Congresswoman Grace Meng (Democrat – New York).
In his meetings with the US lawmakers, Foreign Minister Momen briefed them on the impressive socio-economic development that has taken place in Bangladesh under the dynamic and visionary leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, which was appreciated by them. 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. Foreign Minister Momen 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.
Foreign Minister Momen and the 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.
Ambassador of Bangladesh to the United States, Mohammad Ziauddin, and senior officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Embassy of Bangladesh in Washington, D.C. were present in the meetings.
In the evening, the Foreign Minister attended a reception in the US Department of State hosted by Secretary Pompeo in honor of the participants of the Second Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom.