US urges Dhaka to recognise Kosovo

The United States today again requested Bangladesh to recognize the independence of Kosovo as soon as possible as US Ambassador James Moriarty said 62 countries have already recognized this Balkan state, cut out from the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

Moriarty, who had an hour-long meeting with Foreign Minister Dipu Moni at the foreign ministry, told reporters that Kosovo is now a member of the World Bank and the IMF. “And once again I raised the issue of Bangladesh’s possible recognition of Kosovo and urged the Bangladesh government to recognize Kosovo as soon as possible.”

Asked about the response of the foreign minister, the ambassador said, “I got the impression that she will consider the issue once again.”

When his comment was sought on army pullout from Chittagong Hill Tracts, Moriarty said that’s a sort of an internal matter of Bangladesh and that’s for the people to decide. However, he said the 1997 CHT peace agreement was very positive and the pullout of the army is being done for further implementation of the agreement.

About the repatriation of the absconding killers of Bangabandhu, the ambassador said the issue is something between the two governments. The issue was not discussed in detail at today’s meeting.

Asked about US offer of help in reconstituting the BDR battered by the February 25-26 mutiny, Moriarty said they have not yet received any formal proposal from the Bangladesh side but noted that Washington has a very close cooperation on counter terrorism and border-control issue with the Bangladesh government on this score.

“We’re ready to help if the government has any specific request,” the US diplomat told a questioner.

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