PM urges US to allow duty-free, quata-free access

A Correspondent Habiganj: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday urged the US government to allow duty-free and quota-free access to Bangladesh products to the huge American market. “USA is a big country and a big market. We’re doing business with many countries and it is our peoples’ demand to get duty-free and quota-free access (ofBangladesh products) to the US,” she said while speaking at the inauguration of Muchai Compressor Station at Bahubal in Habiganj. Hasina said Bangladesh got duty-free and quota-free access to European Union and many other developed countries. “Why not USA?” she asked. With US Ambassador Dan W Mozena present at the function, the Prime Minister said that the US is allowing duty-free and quota-free access to many other LDCs except Bangladesh. “But, why (notBangladesh) I don’t know?” She also requested the US envoy to convey this message to the US government. Hasina said that the Awami League government in its previous tenure only found US$ 25 million US investment in Bangladesh. “Later, we’ve been able to increase this to 1 billion US dollars,” Mentioning that her government in its previous term allowed private investment in the power sector, she said that the present government has also passed a new law for Independent Power Producer (IPP) to increase power generation in the country. She that her government is working ceaselessly to meet the country’s growing demand for gas. “We’ve taken steps so that there is no delay in fulfilling the formalities.” Hasina expressed strong resolve to achieve rapid progress of the country and also her optimism to continue the pace of GDP growth, which was 6.7 percent in the last fiscal. “My strong belief is that we’ll be able to do this, as we’ve been working with honesty and also wants the country to move ahead with further development,” she said. Speaking on the occasion, US Ambassador to Bangladesh Dan W Mozena said that the partnership between the United States and Bangladesh is strong, and it is stronger in the power sector. He said that Bangladesh is the single largest exporter to the US and the US is also the single largest investor in Bangladesh. The US ambassador mentioned that his country is assisting Bangladesh to fulfill its demand in the power and energy sector so that it could emerge as an economic tiger inAsia. Finance Minister AMA Muhith, State Minister for Energy and Power Brig Gen (retd) Enamul Haque, Energy Division Secretary Mezbahuddin and Chevron President for Asia Pacific Exploration and Production Company Ltd Melody Meyer also spoke at the function. Chevron, a US-based international oil company, has installed the gas compressor station to increase gas supply to other parts of the country. Officials said Muchai is the first of the three compressors Petrobangla has planned toinstall to boost the gas supply to the national grid. The two other compressor stations will be installed at Ashuganj in Brahmanbaria and Elenga in Tangail. They said the installation of all the compressor stations will facilitate smooth gas transmission across the country.