US working to deal with root causes of Rohingya crisis, which rest in Myanmar: Chollet

The root causes of the Rohingya refugee crisis rest in Myanmar and the US is working to deal with those issues, a senior State Department official has said.

Derek Chollet, a senior policy advisor to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, made the remarks after meeting Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen in Dhaka on Wednesday.

“We are working every day to try to help Bangladesh as they are hosting these refugees but also to deal with the root causes of this crisis, which rest inside Myanmar,” Chollet said.

He thanked the people and government of Bangladesh for sheltering more than 1 million Rohingya.

Chollet, who is heading a US delegation to Bangladesh, said they came because of the importance their country places on the relationship for it to grow politically, in terms of security as well as economically.

“I’m just the latest senior visitor from Washington to come here to Dhaka,” he said.

Chollet said the US and Bangladesh have many shared challenges. “But we have many common opportunities and that's what we talked about here today.”

He said they also had a “very good meeting” with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Momen said he pushed the US delegation to work for more intake of Bangladeshi garments and investment in the South Asian nation.