UNB, Dhaka :Ruling out again the existence of militant outfit Islamic State (IS) in Bangladesh, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday said investigations have revealed that the motives behind recent incidents in the country were primarily domestic.”There’s no IS in Bangladesh…So far probes into the [recent] incidents [killings] have revealed that their [killers] motives were primarily domestic, and our law enforcement agencies have demonstrated their considerable success in arresting some of the killers of bloggers and foreign nationals,” she said.The Prime Minister said this when a high-level US delegation, led by US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs designate Thomas Shannon, met her at her official residence Ganobhaban in the afternoon.The delegation included US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Nisha Desai Biswal, Deputy Assistant Secretary for South Asia Manpreet Singh and US Ambassador Marcia Stephens Bloom Bernicat.PM’s Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim briefed reporters after the meeting. About terrorism, Sheikh Hasina said Bangladesh condemns terrorism and extremism in their all forms and manifestations in the strongest possible terms, both domestically and internationally.Expressing satisfaction over the existing friendly relations between Dhaka and Washington, the Prime Minister said Bangladesh values its ties with the USA. “The relations have set a solid structure of framework of regular annual dialogue and consultations,” she said. On climate change issues, Hasina said Bangladesh is pledged to spend more than one percent of its GDP every year to address the impact of climate change. “Bangladesh is committed to following the low carbon and climate resilient development path,” she said.Spelling out her government’s impressive progress in socioeconomic development, the Prime Minister said the poverty rate in Bangladesh has been reduced to 22.4 percent from 41 percent over the last six years.Thomas Shannon, currently a Counsellor of the US Department of State, emphasised further strengthening cooperation between the two countries in combating terrorism as it is a global problem now.He also underscored the need for deepening ties between the two countries in the field of aviation security, saying that it has now become a very important issue in the global context.”There’re many sectors the two countries can cooperate with each other,” Shannon said stressing further advancing the US-Bangladesh relations for mutual benefits of the two countries.When the Prime Minister raised the issue of extradition of Bangabandhu’s killers from the USA, Shannon said he would discuss it with his colleagues on return home. Shannon highly praised Bangladesh’s stunning development in different sectors and farsighted approach of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in steering the country. PM’s International Affairs Adviser Dr Gowher Rizvi, Bangladesh Ambassador in Washington M Ziauddin, PMO Secretary Suraiya Begum were, among others, present at the meeting.
