Dhaka: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday urged the United States to mount pressure on Myanmar to stop pushing its nationals into Bangladesh.

‘We’ve given shelter to a huge number of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh on humanitarian grounds and it’s a big problem for us. So, I call upon you to exert pressure on Myanmar in this regard,’ she said when US acting Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Alice Wells met her at her office.

PM’s Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim briefed reporters after the meeting.

At the meeting, the US assistant secretary wanted to know from the Prime Minister whether there is any political dialogue between Bangladesh and Myanmar on resolving the Rohingya problem, reports UNB.

In reply, Hasina said, ‘Our foreign office is in contact with the Myanmar authorities.’

Wells, also US acting special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, expressed the US’ interest to work with Bangladesh to combat terrorism and highly appreciated Bangladesh government’s initiatives for curbing the menace.

The Prime Minister reiterated Bangladesh’s ‘zero-tolerance’ policy on terrorism. ‘We won’t allow our land to be used for carrying out terrorist acts in other countries,’ she said.

The US assistant secretary highly appreciated Bangladesh’s massive socio-economic development in different fields, especially the attainment of 7.24 percent GDP growth, under Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s able leadership.

The Prime Minister renewed her call to the US to send back convicted death-row killers of Bangabandhu who are now staying there.

While talking about Bangladesh’s impressive development in different sectors under her leadership, Hasina said the main aim of her government is to strengthen the rural economy.

On promoting the private sector, she said her government has opened up all the sectors in this regard.

Noting that the country’s media is enjoying full freedom, the Prime Minister said it is freely criticising the government and there is no interference from the government.

She said there are some 750 daily newspapers in the country. ‘We’ve given permission to some 44 TV channels in the private sector and 24 of them are now functioning.’

Elaborating her government’s various steps for ensuring women empowerment, Hasina said they have ensured women’s participation in all spheres of the state. ‘Women have reached very high positions in all the sectors like administration, judiciary, education, Armed Forces and law enforcement agencies.’

About the bilateral trade with the USA, she said the volume of trade between the two countries increased manifolds from only $ 25 million in 1996.

The US assistant secretary of state pointed out that the economic relations between the two countries have developed significantly and mentioned that US is the largest market for Bangladeshi RMG products.

PM’s International Affairs Adviser Dr Gowher Rizvi, Principal Secretary Dr Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury and the US charge d’affaires in Dhaka were present on the occasion.