The following is attributable to Spokesperson Clayton M. McCleskey:

U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Mark Green met with the Bangladeshi Foreign Secretary, Md. Shahidul Haque, on Wednesday in New York City at the United Nations General Assembly. The Administrator expressed appreciation for the continued compassion shown by the Bangladeshi people and Government toward the nearly one million Rohingya who have fled ethnic cleansing in Burma. He emphasized that the U.S. Government's priority is to support political processes that will enable the safe, dignified, and voluntary return of refugees to Burma. But the Administrator also reiterated that the U.S. Government will continue to show solidarity with Bangladesh by supporting both emergency humanitarian assistance to refugees and efforts to alleviate the strain on host communities. On September 24, 2018, Ambassador Nikki Haley announced more than $185 million in additional U.S. funding for those affected by the Rakhine State crisis throughout Burma and Bangladesh, which brought the total U.S. humanitarian assistance in response to the crisis to nearly $389 million since August 2017.

Administrator Green and the Foreign Secretary also discussed the upcoming national elections in Bangladesh. The Administrator stressed the U.S. Government's expectations that the Government of Bangladesh will fulfill its commitment to hold free, fair, and participatory elections that reflect the will of the Bangladeshi people.

The Administrator also asked for the Government of Bangladesh's continued assistance in prosecuting those responsible for the brutal killing in 2016 of Xulhaz Mannan, a USAID employee.

Also attending the meeting were Acting Deputy USAID Administrator David Moore; Acting Assistant Administrator for Asia Gloria Steele; and Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration Carol Thompson O'Connell.