US aid chief reaffirms commitment to Myanmar amid Rohingya crisis

YANGON: The US government’s aid chief said on Friday he believes in American aid engagement and development work in Myanmar, and the Rohingya crisis is an "impediment" to that work, not a reason to scale back assistance.

Mark Green, administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), is in Myanmar for a three-day visit that follows a trip to the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, and Rohingya refugee camps in southeast Bangladesh.

Some Asian leaders have been wary about US President Donald Trump’s "America First" policy and his commitment to the region, especially after he walked away from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact in 2016 in the name of protecting US jobs.

"When challenges are there, I don’t believe they get better by America pulling back I very much believe in what we do," Green said in Myanmar’s main city of Yangon after meeting government leader Aung San Suu Kyi in the capital, Naypyitaw.

Green said he believed in American engagement in Myanmar and the importance of "development tools" and "humanitarian assistance". "We want to do more. We want to do good things, we want to do big things," said Green.

On Thursday, Green told reporters in Dhaka the United States would provide $44 million in additional aid for the Rohingya and vulnerable populations in Myanmar and Bangladesh. According to UN estimates, nearly 700,000 Rohingya have fled into Bangladesh from Buddhist-majority Myanmar’s Rakhine State to escape a military crackdown since August, launched in response to Rohingya insurgent attacks.