BD-US ties won't be strained for one person

Ties between Bangladesh and the United States won't be strained for the conviction of Bangladeshi Nobel-laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus, Dhaka's top diplomat said Monday as the sentencing sent out ripples.
Responding to a question regarding the implications of the verdict against the backdrop of serious concerns being aired by the US and some western countries, Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen said the case sentence was awarded by a labour court as per the law of the land.
"Relations between two countries cannot be affected due to a person," he noted.
The FS wouldn't comment further on the matter, which he said is 'under judicial process'.
Earlier in the day, Prof Yunus and three of his Grameen Telecom colleagues were convicted under labour laws and sentenced to six months in simple imprisonment.
However, all four were immediately enlarged on bail by the same court pending appeals.
Asked about major challenges ahead of the foreign ministry in the new year, the FS said addressing the post-graduation challenges would be a major priority for the ministry.
"We need to step up efforts to keep the trade, investment and aid flow unharmed," he told the inquisitive reporters.
In this connection he cited that the ministry is focusing on measures like inking free-trade agreements or preferential trade agreements with important countries in the coming days.
Regarding the apprehension of any trade-related restrictive measures by the US centering the upcoming elections, he said such measures are not at all linked with the polls, set for January 7 with a major opposition coalition staying out of the fray.
According to him the US and some countries have concerns over the labour issues.
"But we are speeding up labour reform, and sufficient progress has been made in this regard."
He also observed that handling the economy and fiscal issues would be the main priority of the new government, up and coming in days, and his ministry would provide required support as per new government's directives.
Asked about improving remittance scenario, he said the ministry took up measure to expand job market for Bangladeshi workers abroad. Recently, many countries expressed their interest in hiring skilled and semi-skilled workers from Bangladesh.
"So, if we can raise the number of skilled and semi-skilled workers, we can enhance remittance inflow," the official says on a note of optimism over a major foreign-exchange source in the year just dawned.

[email protected]