The UN Assistant Secretary General Oscar Fernandez-Taranco met Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday, the first day of his Dhaka visit, in a bid to resolve the political crisis over the Jan 5 elections.
Published : 07 Dec 2013, 06:48 PM
According to the Prime Minister’s Office, the meeting lasted more than 90 minutes.
Fernandez-Taranco met Hasina after meeting a delegation of Awami League leaders led by its General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam.
Ashraful Islam, after the meeting, hoped that the UN emissary's visit would be ‘fruitful’.
Fernandez-Taranco also had a discussion with the US Ambassador in Dhaka Dan Mozena for nearly 30 minutes before meeting Awami League leaders.
The UN Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs arrived in Dhaka on Friday, in what the UN said, to encourage political parties for a dialogue to hold the national elections.
The two major political parties - Awami League and BNP - are at loggerheads over the form of the polls-time dispensation.
The ruling party installed an 'all-party' interim cabinet that the BNP rejected and stayed away demanding restoration of a non-party government to oversee the national polls.
Fernandez-Taranco started his official visit by meeting foreign secretary Md Shahidul Haque at about 10am and then he met foreign minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali.
In the meeting, ministry officials said, he stressed on “inclusive, credible and peaceful” elections.