Bangladesh has recently appointed a US lobbyist firm for a year to work for further deepen Dhaka’s relations with Washington, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam confirmed on Thursday.

“This is just to confirm that we’ve recently appointed Nelson Mullins to maintain government to government relations. It’s a GR (government relations) firm,” he told reporters at his office at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday.

Shahriar hoped that the relations between Bangladesh and the USA will be deepened and strengthened through the appointment of the GR firm in a very transparent manner.

He said the firm has been hired at a monthly pay of US$ 20,000 for its services.

The move comes after the recent US sanctions against Bangladesh’s elite law enforcement force Rapid Action Battalion and seven of its current and former officials.

Shahriar said this is a public document and anybody can have access to it for further details.

While talking to a small group of reporters at his office on February 22, the state minister said they had talked to three firms and indicated to come to a decision within a week.

He also made it clear that they have enough capacity to tackle the matter – either on legal front or diplomatic front – and said the government of Bangladesh does not want to involve a third country in this process.

He said that Bangladesh and the United States would see more engagements through a number of bilateral platforms including ‘Partnership Dialogue’ in the coming months.

Earlier, Bangladesh conveyed its ‘discontent’ over the designated sanctions imposed by the US Departments of Treasury and of State on some of the present and former officials of the Rapid Action Battalion.

Bangladesh says the decision was taken ‘unilaterally’ by the US Administration without any prior consultation with the government of Bangladesh.

Bangladesh also underscored the need for pursuing the pathway of dialogue, engagement and collaboration.