Donald Lu inquired when could US firms remit their profit 

The US companies investing in Bangladesh are not able to remit their profits at home due to existing dollar-crisis in Bangladesh. When will it be possible to remit this money from Bangladesh, asked visiting US state department assistant secretary for South and Central Asia Donald Lu.

Donald Lu inquired about this at a dinner at the Gulshan residence of the prime minister’s private industry and investment advisor Salman F Rahman on Tuesday night.

Salman F Rahman informed this to the newspersons at a media briefing after the dinner. State minister for information and broadcasting Mohammad A. Arafat was also present at the briefing.

Salman F. Rahman further said they discussed the dollar-crisis Bangladesh is going through. They said, “The US companies that are doing business have complained that releasing their money is being delayed. They also said that we understand that there is a pressure on Bangladesh’s reserves.”

They wanted to know how long it would take Bangladesh to pay this amount.

The prime minister’s private industry and investment adviser said, “We are optimistic that Bangladesh’s reserves will increase. Our exports and remittances will also increase. We have informed the Americans that although we are facing some problems in paying, it is being delayed a little, our releasing of money is continuing. We have not stopped the release.”

Speaking about the discussion on Palestine, Salman F Rahman said that he informed them that the Bangladesh prime minister is very concerned about the Palestine issue. The Americans said that just like Bangladesh, the US also wants a permanent ceasefire there. They hinted that the crisis is going towards resolution but they did not elaborate that.

The newspersons asked him whether there was any discussion about China or not. Salman F Rahman said that there was no such discussion. He also stated that there was no discussion on the visa policy.

Asked about the priority of the discussion, Salman F. Rahman said, “The Americans have said that the US wants to improve relations with Bangladesh. Bangladesh also welcomed them in this regard. Neither they nor we raised the issue of the misunderstanding that was there with the US before the elections in the discussion. They want to re-establish the trust in relations with Bangladesh.”

Speaking about the US’ priority, the adviser to the prime minister said that the US will have no objection if the labour policy and law are made in accordance with the roadmap that Bangladesh prepared with the assistance of the International Labor Organization (ILO).

Speaking about the sanctions on several Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) officials, Salman F Rahman said they raised the issues of RAB and deportation of Rashed Chowdhury, one of the killers of Bangabandhu. They said the two issues are currently under consideration in the justice department.

During his previous visit to Dhaka, Donald Lu said that RAB has improved. As a result, their state department was cooperating in this regard and informed the justice department that RAB had improved.

Newspersons also asked whether there was any discussion on the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).

In response, state minister for information and broadcasting Mohammad A Arafat said that the US side did not raise the issues of the BNP, opposition parties, politics, human rights, democracy and elections. There was no discussion about them.