Where did US bring democracy by imposing sanction, asks Momen
Foreign minister AK Abdul Momen asked where the US succeeded in bringing democracy by imposing sanctions.
“I asked them (US officials) in which country did you establish democracy by imposing sanctions? You sanctioned Nigeria, Cambodia, and Hungary. Did you succeed anywhere? They replied that nowhere. So these are pointless. Such things create tension,” Momen said replying to a journalist at the weekly press briefing at his office on Thursday.
Asked if the US will slap any new sanctions including economic sanctions, the foreign minister said, “I don’t know anything about new sanctions. I have no idea if they will impose any new sanctions. But we’ve had a lot of discussions with them. I can’t infer from the discussions that they will not impose any sanction. This is irrelevant.”
About the meeting of prime minister Sheikh Hasina with the US national security adviser Jake Sullivan, the foreign minister said, “We had a good meeting with US national security adviser Jake Sullivan. The news report that the meeting ended abruptly was false and fabricated. The journalist who wrote that the meeting stopped in the middle of the discussion is a liar.
Prime minister Sheikh Hasina met with Jake Sullivan on 27 September during her visit to the Bangladesh embassy in Washington.
The foreign minister said the government will not make any special request to the European Union (EU) to send observers during the upcoming national election.
Asked if Bangladesh would make any special request to the EU to send observers for the next election during the prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s upcoming Brussels visit, the foreign minister said, “It will be good if observers come during the twelfth parliamentary election but we would not make any special request if they don’t send any. We’re confident that the election will be free and fair.”
The minister said, "Bangladesh is not in any block and we don’t want to become anybody’s pawn."
"We don’t abide by big countries despite being small. We don’t buy their goods, and that begets some problems. But everything will be alright,” the minister added.