Dhaka appoints lobbying firm to ‘deepen’ ties with Washington
Bangladesh has recently appointed a US lobbying firm for a year to deepen Dhaka's ties with Washington, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam said yesterday.
He said the firm has been hired at a monthly payment of $20,000 [Tk 17,19,915]. [One dollar was equivalent to Tk 86 yesterday].
"This is just to confirm that we've recently appointed Nelson Mullins to maintain government-to-government relations. It's a GR [government relations] firm," he told reporters at his office.
He hoped the relations between the two countries would be strengthened through the appointment of the GR firm in a very transparent manner.
Shahriar said this is a public document and anybody can access it for further details.
The move comes after the recent US sanctions on Rab and seven of its current and former officials.
While talking to a small group of reporters at his office on February 22, the state minister said they had talked to three firms and indicated a decision might come within a week.
He also said they have enough capacity to tackle the matter [sanctions] - either on the legal front or on the diplomatic one -- and added the government does not want to involve a third country in this process.
The state minister said Bangladesh and the United States would see more engagements through a number of bilateral platforms, including "Partnership Dialogue", in the coming months.
Earlier, Bangladesh expressed its "discontent" over the sanctions imposed by the US Departments of Treasury and of State.
Bangladesh says the decision was taken "unilaterally" by the US administration without any prior consultation with the government of Bangladesh.
Dhaka also underscored the need for pursuing the pathway of dialogue, engagement and collaboration.
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