United News of Bangladesh

US Special Envoy for South and Central Asia Sergio Gor on Saturday said “great opportunities” exist between Bangladesh and the United States and the two countries can achieve real results by working together, stressing that the United States holds Prime Minister Tarique Rahman in the highest regard. “The United States holds the Prime Minister in the highest regard….. The message that we want to make sure gets out there between our two sides is that there's incredible potential,” he told reporters after the meeting with the Prime Minister. Gor who paid a “familiarisation and exploratory” visit to Bangladesh from July 30 to August 1, laid emphasis on strengthening economic cooperation and enhancing partnership between the two countries. He discussed the “great opportunities” between the US and Bangladesh to strengthen economic cooperation and enhance our partnership.

Foreign Affairs Adviser Md Touhid Hossain on Tuesday ruled out any possible negative impact on Bangladesh-US relations as Dhaka refuted President Donald Trump’s claim. "I don't see any reason for deteriorating relations with the United States," he told reporters when his attention was drawn about Dhaka's statement over President Trump's claim. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday said Trump's allegation that USAID provided $29 million to an organisation owned by two persons in Bangladesh is not true. Hossain said President Trump did not make any allegations against anyone. "We also saw that there was nothing like that." He said no investigation has been done into this but they only tried to know what the issue is. Hossain said they have found that in fact the money is given to an American organization which works with various NGOs here and all the money has come through proper channels. "Here, $29 million has been given to two people, that is not the case," Hossain added. Responding to a question, the Adviser said, "I don’t consider this to be a provocative remark (by US President)." Hossain said they do not see any need to exaggerate the issue. Foreign Adviser hopes for quick resolution of visa issues with India When asked about the use of the word ‘untrue’ in Bangladesh’s statement, Hossain said, "It can be said. Since we have not found anything. There is nothing like that. So it was mentioned that it's not correct." "Such projects are executed under the Development Objective Assistance Agreement (DOAG) between Bangladesh and the US, ensuring no individual influence in the decision-making process," said the MoFA in its statement on Monday. Addressing the White House Governors Working Session on February 20, Trump claimed that the $29 million USAID fund landed with an obscure firm that he said was "a little outfit" with just two employees. "Two people! They're very happy. Very rich. They'll be on the cover of a top business magazine -- for being great scammers," quipped the US president. At another event on February 21, Trump again accused the agency of funneling $29 million to prop up a "radical left communist" in Bangladesh. During President Trump's first term, USAID selected Democracy International (DI), a US-registered organisation -- to implement the project. Multiple international organisations participated in a competitive bidding process, and USAID made its decision transparently. Initially, SPL was a five-year project with a budget of $14 million. It was managed by USAID and co-funded by the UK's development agency DFID (now FCDO), which committed $10 million.

The United States has said China has done "very little" to help resolve the Rohingya issue and for whom much more should be expected, considering the proximity to China of this humanitarian catastrophe.