<div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday asked the exporters to explore new markets for Bangladeshi goods and expand the country’s export basket.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“We’ll have to search for new places.We’ll have to expand the export basket,” she said while addressing the National Export Trophy Award Ceremony in the city’s Osmani Memorial Auditorium.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In the function, the PM conferred 77 exporters with the National Export Trophy in 28 categories for their outstanding performance in the country's export earnings for the 2021-2022 fiscal year.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Among them, 28 firms were recognised with gold trophies, while 27 with silver trophies and 21 with bronze trophies and the rest one firm with the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Export Trophy.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Rifat Garments Ltd was given the highest recognition, the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Export Trophy for highest export earnings in the 2021-22 fiscal.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The prime minister said a country shouldn’t rely on only one export item as the demand of a particular item won’t always be the same.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Why will we be dependent only on the garment item?” she said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">She expressed her conviction to take the country forward economically by boosting production, export earnings and purchasing power of the country’s people.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“We don’t want to be dependent on limited goods,” said Hasina.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>