Govt will lobby for country's interests: Foreign minister

Foreign minister AK Abdul Momen has said that the government will carry out lobbying wherever it is needed for the country's interests.

He was speaking to newspersons on Friday morning, after a discussion at the Bangladesh Institute of Law and International Affairs (BILIA).

Bangladesh had earlier appointed a lobbyist firm BGR to improve relations with the US.

When asked it Bangladesh would appoint a lobbyist firm anew in context of the recent sanctions imposed by the US on RAB, foreign minister AK Abdul Momen replied, "I cannot say. Hiring lobbyists is an American practice. All countries do this and we call this 'tadbir' here. Over there lobbying is official. We will lobby where needed. Even within the country, lobbying is needed at times."

The US on 10 December imposed sanctions on the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and six of its incumbent and former officials on charges of violating human rights.

Replying to a question on the US sanctions, the foreign minister said, "All sorts of crises crop up from time to time. We sort these out. A difficulty may have arisen now, but we will sort it out. America is a matured country. They will look into it. They may have imposed sanctions on RAB, but the US state department has said that terrorism has decreased over the past few years. That is their objective survey. They will take all this into consideration. Their aim is to eliminate terrorism worldwide and to catch terrorists. They aim at decreasing drugs and drug trafficking. RAB has carried out all this successfully and that is why it has won people's confidence. I think everyone will understand this. Then perhaps there will be a change in the situation."

"This country was created for democracy. Democracy faces many blows. All democracies have some shortcomings. This is a continuous process. We are steadily attaining maturity. Even America in its maturity faces blows. Such hits and blows are inevitable. If there is any weakness anywhere, we will definitely try to resolve that," added he.