US Chargé d’affaires to Bangladesh Tracey Jacobson on Tuesday called on Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus at the State Guest House Jamuna.
They discussed issues of mutual interest and the fallout of the US decision to freeze the work of USAID across the globe.
Professor Yunus and Jacobson also discussed the reform agenda of the interim government, the Rohingya crisis, migration, and the country’s law and order situation.
Professor Yunus highlighted his recent moves to form a consensus commission and, under its auspices, to inaugurate dialogue with the political parties of the country.
“Once we have reached consensus over the reforms, the political parties will sign a July Charter to implement them,” Professor Yunus said.
Chargé d’affaires Jacobson stressed that elections for a new government should be free, fair, and inclusive. She also enquired about Operation Devil’s Hunt, recently launched by the country’s security forces.
The Chief Adviser said he has called for reconciliation in Bangladeshi society, urging people to break the cycle of retribution and to create the grounds for peace and harmony in the country.
“We are all children of this country. There should be no place for retribution,” he said, adding that he has instructed law enforcement agencies to uphold human rights at any cost during their operations.
The Chief Adviser thanked the US administration for continuing humanitarian aid to the one million Rohingya refugees now living in Bangladesh. “The US assistance is the most crucial aid to the Rohingya refugees,” he said.
Professor Yunus also raised concerns over the US decision to freeze aid to other key projects in Bangladesh, including the life-saving efforts of the ICDDR’B, one of the world’s renowned health research institutes.
He highlighted the role the ICDDR’B played in reducing deaths from diarrhoea and cholera to almost zero in Bangladesh and in countries like Haiti in the Caribbean.
Professor Yunus said that whatever happens with USAID, Bangladesh needs US support during this crucial period of rebuilding, reforms, and reconstruction.
“This isn’t the time to stop it,” he said.
