DHAKA, March 29: Bangladesh has formally turned down a recent informal US request to trim the staff of the Iraqi embassy in Dhaka.

The government has also decided to send foodstuff and medicine worth $2 million for Iraqi people through the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Society. The decision came amidst regular anti-war demonstrations across the country.

Foreign Affairs Minister M. Morshed Khan told reporters on Saturday that the government had received an “informal request” from the United States to trim Iraqi embassy staff in Dhaka. “But we have formally regretted the request. We have communicated to the US administration that as a sovereign and independent state, Bangladesh follows its own policies on such matters. Request like trimming of a country’s embassy staff is unacceptable to us.”