US makes overture for Dhaka-Washington security partnership

Counselor of the US Department of State Derek Chollet will meet senior officials in Bangladesh to discuss “coordination and response” to the Rohingya refugee crisis, strengthening cooperation in international fora, and advancing the “security partnership” between Dhaka and Washington. Chollet, who is scheduled to arrive Tuesday afternoon, will have a breakfast meeting with Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen on Wednesday where Bangladesh will raise its priority issues.

During his 24-hour stay, Chollet will meet Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen Wednesday at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs besides his other engagements in Dhaka, officials said.

The US Counselor serves at the rank of under-secretary as a senior policy advisor to the US secretary of state on a wide range of issues and conducts special diplomatic assignments as directed by the secretary.

Bangladesh saw a series of senior US officials visiting it in recent months with the last one by US Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asia Donald Lu.

The US sees “huge potential” in their relationship with Bangladesh and a lot of “room to grow.”

Counselor Chollet will lead a US delegation to Bangladesh and Pakistan on February 14-18 to meet with senior government officials, civil society members, and business leaders to highlight the importance of their bilateral partnership and to reaffirm their shared goals, said the office of the spokesperson at the US Department of State.

He will be joined by the Counselor of the US Agency for International Development Clinton White, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs at the US Department of State Elizabeth Horst, Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice Beth Van Schaack. Bangladesh said the visit of the US counselor will help strengthen its relations with the US.