The European Union looks towards “a comprehensive partnership” framework with Bangladesh as it pursues a foreign policy of “engagement and dialogue”.
Published : 15 May 2014, 08:37 PM
The EU diplomats in Dhaka conveyed this to foreign minister Abul Hasan Mahmood Ali at a diplomatic briefing held at state guest house Padma on Thursday, the foreign ministry said.
The foreign minister assured them of the government’s unstinted support to the EU countries in realising their foreign policy goals in Bangladesh.
He said the present government would also work closely with the EU to realise its own vision for “a democratic, secular and socio-economically vibrant” Bangladesh by 2021.
The envoys stressed that the two pillars of EU’s engagement with Bangladesh – ‘democracy-human rights’ and ‘trade and development’ – would continue to guide their foreign policy priorities.
And those priorities would be realised under a comprehensive partnership framework in the days to come.
Envoys of eight EU countries who have permanent missions in Dhaka including Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, UK and the head of the EU delegation William Hanna attended the post-Jan 5 elections briefing.
The EU did not find the elections ‘credible’ and stayed away from monitoring the polling as opposition BNP and its allies boycotted the exercise, resulting in more than half the seats returning uncontested winners.
They have been calling for a dialogue between major parties – the Awami League and the BNP –to find an agreed solution of holding elections.
On May 8, before the Europe Day, they renewed the call, but said would continue to engage with Bangladesh.
The EU is Bangladesh’s biggest trading partner, giving all its products duty-free market access.
Last year, Bangladesh’s exports to EU were valued at € 10.4 billion against only € 1.6 billion worth of imports from EU countries. In last three years, the trade grew by 57 percent.
The 28-country bloc also provides around € 500 million grants to Bangladesh each year.
This year, the European Investment Bank has begun lending to Bangladesh in the areas of transport and water infrastructure.
According to the foreign ministry, the envoys said that “a more coherent and overarching” framework of cooperation would include the formation of a joint commission and a comprehensive dialogue partnership resulting in increased trade, investment and development cooperation.
They urged the government to remove institutional barriers to EU investments in Bangladesh, particularly in the power, infrastructure, IT, and services sectors.
Assuring his all out support, the foreign minister said Bangladesh and the EU shared common values of democracy, pluralism, secularism and development, and that would find “new depths and dimension” under Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government.
This was the second of a series of diplomatic briefings begun on Wednesday after the much-debated Jan 5 elections.
Prime Minister’s Political Affairs Adviser HT Imam and International Affairs adviser Gowher Rizvi, junior foreign minister Shahriar Alam, and Foreign Secretary Md. Shahidul Huque were also present during the briefing.
The foreign minister recalled EU’s political and humanitarian support to the people of Bangladesh during the 1971 war of independence and thanked it for its support to the newly formed government.
He said the EU’s support had been manifested in the European Parliament resolution after the election on Jan 16, and the visit of its parliamentary delegation in March.
In the resolution, the EU parliamentarians urged BNP to sever its ties with the Jamaat-e-Islam and Hefajat-e-Islam, in line with the demand the Awami League has been making for holding what it calls a meaningful dialogue.
Imam expressed the hope that the EU would continue “to stand next to Bangladesh to counter the forces that plot to destroy its secular and democratic fabric and the values of 1971”.
Ambassadors and representatives of Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Holy See, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Norway, Russia, Switzerland, and the US and United Nations Resident Coordinator(UNRC) have been briefed on Wednesday, the first day.