DHAKA: Pointing finger at Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its key ally Jamaat-e-Islami, state minister for foreign affairs M Shahriar Alam said foreign diplomats have understood now who nourish terrorism and violence.

He opined that Bangladesh has presently been maintaining better diplomatic ties with western and different other countries than that of any previous time.

Shahriar revealed the current state of country’s diplomatic relations to the rest of the world and other diplomatic affairs in an exclusive interview with banglanews.

The minister said that over one year and three months have been passed since the national election that was held on January 5, 2014. Meantime, many new diplomats have come to Bangladesh.

All of newly arrived diplomats and those came before the elections have observed the situations closely. Subsequently, they have understood that BNP and Jammat are terrorism-based political parties, Shahriar added.

It is clear to the diplomats that BNP and Jammat have killed general people in 85 days in the name of political movement. They have been nourishing terrorism.

Opining the incumbent government is maintaining good diplomatic relations to different countries of the world including United States of America (USA) and United Kingdom (UK), the state minister said that Bangladesh will sit with the USA on bilateral security talks soon.

Moreover, foreign minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali had a successful meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry where the US minister expressed his willingness to visit Bangladesh, Shahriar said.

Kerry is likely to visit Bangladesh this year, Shahriar hoped adding that Chinese prime minister Wen Jiabao is also expected to visit the country by this year.

According to Shahriar, Bangladesh is progressing not only in building good diplomatic ties but also in development cooperation by overcoming the recent crisis.

Citing the post-Rana Plaza tragedy period, the minister said that development organizations, labor rights organizations and buyers have changed their views on Bangladesh.

After the Rana Plaza tragedy, the International Labour Organization (ILO) has inspected 77 percent of country’s total garment and apparel factories.

Working environment is now satisfactory at these factories and this is a significant achievement, Shahriar added.

Referring to European Union’s (EU) Generalized Scheme of Preferences (GSP), the state minister said that EU and other friendly states keep their eyes after providing opportunities to Bangladesh whether the country can use the opportunities properly.

According to him, EU and other countries are satisfied. For this reason, the degree of cooperation has been increasing day by day, he added.

Now, Bangladesh is progressing in economic and social indexes.

Mentioning the issues of BNP-Jamaat again, Shahriar said that a political party or alliance demands to hold election and calls blockade-shutdown destroying thousands of students’ future to take power only.

So, neither the foreigners nor the countrymen will stand in favor of BNP-Jamaat, claimed the state minister.

BDST: 1320 HRS, APR 05, 2015
HB/RR/SMS