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During his conversation with the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio couple of days ago, Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus mentioned that general elections will be held as soon as possible, said foreign adviser Touhid Hossain on Thursday.
Asked about the talking points of the conversation, the adviser told the reporters that reform and elections were discussed.
“They expressed their support to the government’s reform initiatives. during the course of the discussion he wanted to know about elections, and we told him that elections will be held as soon as possible” the foreign adviser said.
Responding to a question, he said that the foreign ministry had requested India for the extradition of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in writing and was still ‘following up’ on the issue.
Replying to another question, he said that issues related to the renewal of the Ganges Water Treaty of Teesta River water sharing deal need to be resolved through bilateral discussions.
“We have seen in the last 15 or 20 years that such issues were not resolved proactively by them, it requires bilateral engagement”.
In response to a question, he said that the draft of the MoU regarding the establishment of an office of the UN Human Rights body has been sent to them, and until the finalisation of the draft, he did not want to comment.
However, both sides have agreed that the office will be set up here initially for three years, the adviser stated.
Asked about the 36 Bangladeshis, who were arrested by Malaysian Police for their suspected link to the ISI, he said that the ministry sought details of the arrests.
The foreign adviser stated that investigations are still ongoing, and steps will be taken as per the law if they are found guilty.
"If they deport some of them, then we will conduct our probe into the matter and will take due measures as per findings," he added.
Responding to another question, Touhid Hossain said that the Chief Adviser may visit Malaysia in August, but the date has not been finalised yet.
He, in response to a question, said that the foreign ministry is carrying out its own reforms, stressing the well-being of the expatriate Bangladeshis especially those in the Middle East.
"We have directed our missions to make sure that expatriate Bangladeshis can sit inside a building when they are waiting for collecting their passports.
We do not have the right to let them stand under the sun when they visit the Bangladesh Missions for collecting passports," the adviser mentioned.
The foreign adviser also said that a crucial meeting would take place in the USA on Thursday on tariff negotiations .
“Our commerce adviser and the national security adviser are taking part in the meeting and I hope that we may be able to address the tariff related problems with the aid after the meeting,” he added.