BANGLADESH PRIME MINISTER SEEKS MEETING WITH

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DHAKA 000420 SIPDIS DEPT FOR S AND D WHITE HOUSE FOR NSC E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/28/2019 TAGS: PREL PGOV PTER PINR PINS BG SUBJECT: BANGLADESH PRIME MINISTER SEEKS MEETING WITH PRESIDENT OBAMA AND SECRETARY CLINTON DHAKA 00000420 001.2 OF 002 Classified By: Ambassador James F. Moriarty. Reasons: 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (U) This is an action cable. Please see following paragraph. -------------- SUMMARY -------------- ¶2. (C) In my meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on April 27, she requested a meeting with President Obama during her planned private visit to the United States in the second half of May. She also asked for a meeting with Secretary Clinton but made clear she would only visit Washington if the President agreed to see her. I strongly endorse meetings with both the President and the Secretary. Even a short meeting with the President would help solidify U.S. relations with the world's seventh most populous nation, which also is home to the world's fourth largest Muslim population. Sheikh Hasina's newly elected government embodies a delicate transition; a meeting for her with the President would bolster democracy in Bangladesh and make her a stronger partner in fighting transnational terrorism. -------------- -------------- HASINA'S APPEAL FOR A MEETING WITH PRESIDENT OBAMA -------------- -------------- ¶3. (C) Sheikh Hasina told me she was eager to meet President Obama during the second half of May, when she planned a private visit to the United States to see her doctors in Florida and Maryland. She wants to meet Secretary Clinton in addition to, but not in lieu of a meeting with the President. I told her I would immediately seek an Oval Office meeting but could not make any promises on behalf of the President. -------------- WHY THE PRESIDENT SHOULD MEET HASINA -------------- ¶4. (C) Even a brief meeting between President Obama and Prime Minister Hasina would significantly boost U.S. interests. Hasina was elected Prime Minister in December 2008 in elections that ended two years of rule by an unelected military-backed Caretaker Government. The late February mutiny of border guards against their army leadership that left more than 50 officers dead was a huge blow to her government. Hasina's decision not to immediately use the army to quell the mutiny angered many mid-level military officers, and the state of civil-military relations is tenuous. A meeting with President Obama would signal the U.S. Government's continued strong support for democracy in Bangladesh and for the Hasina government's oft-stated priority of fighting terrorism in South Asia. ¶5. (C) A meeting with Hasina also would support the President's policy of reaching out to the Muslim world. A moderate Muslim-majority nation of about 150 million people, Bangladesh is an obvious target for such outreach. U.S. Government ties with Bangladesh remain very friendly, in part because the U.S. has a long record of helping this impoverished country deal with floods, cyclones and other natural disasters, but also because of our shared belief in democracy and free markets. A meeting with the President would solidify a relationship that will become only more important as we work with South Asian governments on vexing transnational problems such as terrorism and global warming. -------------- LOGISTICS -------------- ¶6. (C) Hasina plans to travel to Canada on May 5 to visit her daughter, who recently gave birth, but the departure might be delayed if the health of the Prime Minister's husband further deteriorates. She is scheduled to meet the Canadian Prime Minister in Ottawa on May 15 and then plans to immediately travel to the United States for check-ups with her physicians in Florida and Baltimore, Maryland. She expects to return to Bangladesh for Parliament's budget session in June. She told me she would be happy to meet the President any time during the last two weeks of May. I will keep you informed of any DHAKA 00000420 002 OF 002 changes to the Prime Minister's travel plans. MORIARTY