Terming the border killings undesirable and regrettable, Foreign Minister (FM) Dipu Moni on Monday said both the neighbouring countries - Bangladesh and India - will have to respond equally to bring the killings to a zero level, reports UNB.

"….both the countries need to respond equally to bring the killings along the border to a zero level, but we had strongly protested maintaining the proper process whenever a killing took place on the border," she told reporters at the conference room of her ministry.

"Whatever happening along the border is very sad…each killing is excessive and undesirable. The killing can no way be pardoned," an irked foreign minister said referring to the recent killings along the border.

Dipu Moni, however, said no incident should be assessed lopsidedly.

"But surely, bigger responsibility goes to them who opened fire."

She said Bangladesh got assurance from the top authorities of the Indian government on stopping killings along the border and they expressed sorrow from the top level. "We see the number of killing is going down. But we want to bring it down to zero."

Dipu Moni said Bangladesh is taking all necessary measures to that end. "We're taking steps so that no Bangladeshi citizen can cross border at night."

The Foreign Minister was speaking at a media briefing arranged marking the completion of four years by the grand alliance government in office and highlighting the successes and achievements of the Foreign Ministry.

About press reports on the possibility of cancellation of GSP (Generalized System of Preferences) facilities by the US government to Bangladesh's apparel export, Dipu Moni said, "We'll properly uphold our position at the appropriate time. We want the continuation of the GSP facilities."

She said the matter depends on bilateral discussions though a very small 0.54 percent of Bangladesh's total exports of US$4.87 billion to the US now enjoy duty-free status under the GSP facilities.

The Foreign Minister said the government is working for the improvement of labour standards and ensure quality of the products that go to global market, especially readymade garments.

On unsettled issues with India including that of Ganges water sharing treaty, Dipu Moni said, "I'm still hopeful of that. They're also hopeful. There's no reason to be unhopeful."

Responding to a question on a recent survey on the government success, she said, "Let all the surveys come out first. Then we'll altogether conduct another survey based on the surveys available to know the real position."

Asked about her ministry's failure, she said, "It's one of the failures that we couldn't uphold our success to you (media) properly."