Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has decided not to visit the US to attend the 68th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) scheduled to be held at the end of this month.
Talking to The Daily Star yesterday, Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury confirmed the cancellation of the premier’s US tour without elaborating the cause behind the decision.
Hasina herself conveyed the decision to her cabinet colleagues at the Cabinet meeting yesterday as she would go to Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah and attend meetings with party grassroots leaders.
At the meetings, she will select party candidates for the next general election, said sources in the cabinet.
Party insiders said the premier preferred to stay at home due to the country’s ongoing political uncertainty as well as the upcoming parliament session beginning on Thursday.
Diplomatic sources, however, told The Daily Star that the decision of not going to the US is largely the result of a failure to arrange an invitation from the US government for a bilateral meeting with President Barack Obama.
Although Hasina has visited the US four times only to attend the UNGA, her government has failed to arrange an invitation from the White House for a bilateral meeting.
Hasina briefly met with Obama at past UN sessions and a climate conference in US, but no bilateral meeting was held between them.
Foreign ministry officials said though they got a hint of the cancellation of the premier’s visit to the US, there was no instruction from the high ups till yesterday to stop arrangements for the tour.
As per tour schedule, Hasina will reach New York on September 23 with a stopover in London.
“Our preparations are going on…we are fixing schedules, appointments and accommodations, etc.
“If the programme is cancelled, the government will have to pay compensation for various bookings relating to accommodation and meetings,” said a senior official of the ministry.
Official sources said there had been desperate diplomatic moves and hectic lobbying to arrange a bilateral meeting at the Oval Office of the White House.
But all efforts failed in spite of the existing bilateral diplomatic warmth.
Diplomatic sources also said Dhaka’s relations with Washington had lost some glow mainly over the issue of Nobel laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus and his Grameen Bank, Dhaka’s poor handling of some human rights concerns and non-signing of the Ticfa deal.
Hasina’s government has also cold shouldered some of the US officials during their visits to Bangladesh.
She did not find time to meet the visiting US assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert O Blake in December 2012, the sources added.
US Ambassador to Bangladesh Dan W Mozena also did not get an appointment to call on the premier for a long time. Mozena finally succeeded in meeting her along with a visiting US Congressman recently.
Relations with the US faced a serious setback after the Obama administration on June 27, 2013 suspended GSP privilege for not taking steps to afford internationally recognised worker rights to employees, especially engaged in the RMG sector.
Source: The Daily Star
