United States Ambassador to Bangladesh in Dhaka James F Moriarty on Thursday reiterated concern over Prof Yunus’ removal from the Grameen Bank but said the US has no role to play in the issue.
The US had publicly expressed concerns over the incident. Prof Yunus is a widely respected person, he said adding: “We just expressed our concerns.”
“We have no role in this matter,” Moriarty said when asked whether the US was interfering into Bangladesh’s internal matters.
He also said Prof Yunus is a global figure and he has relations with many people at the international level and the Grameen Bank has a branch in the United States as well, Moriarty said, adding that this is why the US has expressed its concern on the issue.
The US ambassador was addressing the inauguration of two-day Education USA fair organised by American Centre of the US Embassy in Dhaka at the Brac Centre Inn in the city in the morning.
Earlier on March 3, he told the journalists emerging from a meeting between diplomatic corps, development partners and the finance minister at Bangladesh Secretariat that the United States is deeply troubled by the government removing Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus from the office of the managing director of Grameen Bank and termed it "an unusual way to handle a Nobel Laureate”
About the education fair Moriarty said the number of Bangladeshi students in the United States is increasing but still it is very low comparing to the number of students from other countries in the region such as Nepal and India.
He said currently 700,000 international students are studying in the USA, of whom 2,600 are Bangladeshi students.
Nine universities from the United States are participating in the fair which was open for the interested students Thursday at the Brac Centre from 11:00am to 5:00pm and will be open today from 3:00pm to 7:00pm at the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh in Dhanmondi in the city.
Lauren Lovelace, Director and Ryan Bradeen, Cultural Affairs Officer of the American Centre were also present during the inauguration programme.
News Source: The Daily Star