Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury, Vice Chairman of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) claimed that Nisha Desai Biswal, US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian affairs, wants to see a strong democracy in Bangladesh for the sustainable economic and infrastructural development.
Biswal will talk to the top leaders of the government during her ongoing visit, she assured the BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, Mobin added.
The BNP leader came up with the comment at a press briefing after a meeting with the visiting US diplomat Biswal and Khaleda Zia at the latter's residence at Gulshan in the capital on Friday.
Shamsher Mobin also quoted Biswal as saying that a good relation exists between the US Administration and the BNP and it will grow stronger in future.
The BNP leader said that Khaleda Zia admired the role of US administration to strengthen SAARC.
Bilateral affairs of the two countries were discussed at the meeting, Mobin said.
The BNP Acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, Vice Chairman Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury, Advisor to the BNP Chairperson Riaz Rahman and Sabih Uddin Ahmed were present at the meeting.
This is Biswal's second trip to Bangladesh as she had been here soon after taking over as the Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs on October 21 last year.
Terming the January 5 parliamentary election a 'deeply flawed' one, Biswal in February said this could have serious ramifications for stability in Bangladesh and the region as the election did not credibly express the will of the Bangladeshi people.
"I want to state very clearly that our interest in holding fresh election is to ensure a free and fair process," she said in her opening remark at a hearing on the prospects of democratic reconciliation and workers' rights in Bangladesh at the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations in Washington in February.
The United States, said Biswal, has not taken sides, or played favourites as to who should lead the country. Decision should be left to the Bangladesh people, whose voices were not fairly heard on January 5, she added.
As the Assistant Secretary, Biswal oversees US foreign policy with India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, the Maldives, Bhutan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan.
Before her arrival in Dhaka, Biswal attended the 18th SAARC Summit in Kathmandu, Nepal. She will have meetings with top government officials and leaders of opposition party, business community, labour and RMG sectors.