Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday said the USA’s suspension of trade privileges for Bangladesh was illogical. It was up to the US to decide whether it would reinstate the facilities for Bangladesh under the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP), she said in an interview with the Voice of America at Bangladesh Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York. On the GSP suspension and Bangladesh’s ties with the US, the PM said, “We have friendship with all and malice towards none. We don’t know why they suspended the GSP. “They set 16 conditions and we have met those. ”It was illogical on the USA’s part to set so many conditions because Bangladesh used to enjoy the GSP facilities for only a handful of products, she said. “We have been able to raise our exports to $32 billion despite the USA’s suspension of GSP facilities. “She also touched on other issues such as the country’s growth, curbing terrorism and the role of the opposition. At the beginning of the interview, she said the two awards she had won recently belonged to the people of Bangladesh. Hasina received Champions of the Earth award, the UN’s highest environmental accolade, and ICT Sustainable Development Award at the UN headquarters in New York recentlAsked about the government’s efforts to curb terrorism, Hasina said she herself fell victim to terrorism and came under a grenade attack. Hasina said the present government would carry on its efforts to check terrorism in Bangladesh. Noting that the opposition is an integral part of a democratic system, she said the current opposition plays a very constructive role in parliament.
