Bangladesh Ambassador to the United States Mohammad Ziauddin said on Tuesday that Dhaka-Washington along with neighbors and other friendly nations have been working together to eliminate extremism and terrorism, reports BSS. “Dhaka worked with Washington and others nations in line with the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s vow to show ‘zero tolerance’ against all forms of terrorism and violent extremism,” he said during separate meetings with two Congressmen held at the Capitol Hill in Washington. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has taken tough stance against terrorism as she herself is a victim of terrorist acts and lost her father and 18 members of the family in 1975, he also said. During the meetings with Congressman Lee Zeldin (R-NY) who is a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and Congressman Adrian Smith (R-NE), a member of the U.S. House Subcommittee on Ways and Means, they discussed wide range issues of mutual interests with particular reference to the restoration of GSP for Bangladesh. He said Bangladesh-US relation is based on mutual trust and respect and both shares the same values and objectives as well as the same principle on ISIS and seriously condemns its heinous acts of terrorism. Ziauddin briefed the Congressmen on the brutal killing of the founding father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibar Rahman, indemnity to the self-confessed killers, rehabilitation and rewarding the anti-liberation forces, creation of religion-based political parties, consecutive military rules and the recent arson, killings and violence orchestrated by the BNP and Jamaat-i-Islami alliance. On the bilateral trade, the envoy mentioned that Bangladesh does not enjoy any trade preference from the US while U.S. Preferential treatments to the trans-pacific partners shall chip away the competitiveness of Bangladeshi products in the US market. He said Bangladesh apparels are subjected to high tariff in the US as opposed to zero tariffs to almost all other developed countries in the world which would adversely impact the export of Bangladeshi RMG to the US market. The Ambassador said the US government should restore the GSP and allow duty-free access of Bangladeshi products to the US market, particularly RMG to strengthen Bangladesh’s efforts against terrorism. Congressman Adrian Smith assured the ambassador of looking into the issues while Congressman Lee Zeldin, who is also a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, thanked the Ambassador for the briefing on Bangladesh. Political Counselor Nayem Uddin Ahmed of the Embassy accompanied the Ambassador.
