Bangladesh and the United States are likely to co-host a sidelines event on the United Nations High Level Meeting on large scale movement of refugees and migrants during the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in September this year in New York.

 

During her recent visit to Dhaka, US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Nisha Desai Biswal, indicated that US President Barack Obama intends to extend an invitation to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to co-host the sidelines event, Foreign Ministry said on Thursday night.

 

The US Assistant Secretary said they were looking forward to holding the fifth Partnership Dialogue between Bangladesh and the United States in Washington in June this year, UNB reports.

 

Biswal wrapped up her two-day visit on Thursday and the visit followed the conversation between the Prime Minister Hasina and the US Secretary of State John Kerry on April 28 to discuss the bilateral cooperation in counterterrorism and countering violent extremism where the later proposed to send Assistant Secretary Biswal to Bangladesh to discuss this issue further.

 

During the visit, the Assistant Secretary met Prime Minister, Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan, Political Adviser to the Prime Minister HT Imam and State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam.

 

She also held a bilateral discussion with Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque. US Ambassador to Bangladesh Marcia Bernicat and other senior officers of the US Embassy and US State Department accompanied her in all the meetings.

 

During the discussion, Biswal underscored the importance of the growing bilateral cooperation between the two countries in counterterrorism and countering violent extremism.

 

Prime Minister reiterated her government’s policy of “zero tolerance” against all forms of terrorism, while Assistant Secretary Biswal mentioned that the USA wants to work together with Bangladesh and expects that Bangladesh would value this partnership.

With inputs from UNB