EU pushes for AL-BNP dialogue

The European Union has joined the United States in calling the major parties in Bangladesh for a political dialogue to ease an increasingly volatile situation. The EU on Wednesday advocated talks between the ruling coalition and the opposition to purge Bangladesh of what it says an 'image crisis' and lure in foreign investment in its bid to become a middle-income country by 2021.

The observation came amid growing tension between arch-rivals Awami League and BNP after the disappearance of the BNP's organising secretary M Ilias Ali. The EU delegation in Bangladesh made the observation at a press conference on Wednesday in Dhaka marking the 62nd Europe Day and 40 years of partnership between Bangladesh and the European Union.

"Our role is to encourage and support dialogue. And we believe parliament is the best place for dialogue," Ambassador William Hanna, head of delegation, said. He expressed concern over the disappearance of Ilias Ali and killing of readymade garment workers' leader Aminul Islam and suggested full investigation into these cases.  US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during her visit on Sunday also aired similar concern. She said Bangladesh's failure to probe the murder of the president of Ashulia unit of a garment labour union, whose body was found two days after disappearance on Apr 4, would send a wrong signal to the American buyers.  Replying to a question, Hanna said both the major parties should exercise 'restraint and engage in dialogue' within or outside Parliament to resolve the caretaker government issue. Commenting on the human rights situation in Bangladesh, Hanna said: "It's the central point of the EU development cooperation in Bangladesh."

Despite recession, he said, Bangladesh's export to the EU market has increased by 28 percent. "There is room for further increase (in the volume of export)."  The Ambassador said the EU was the biggest development partner of Bangladesh providing over 500 million euros annually. Ambassador of Netherlands Alphons Hennekens, German Ambassador Holger Michael, Danish Ambassador Svend Olling, Swedish Ambassador Anneli Lindahl Kenny, Italian Ambassador Giorgio Guglielmino, Spanish Ambassador Luis Tejada Chacon, British High Commissioner Robert Gibson and French Ambassador Michel Trinquier were present at the briefing. The Danish Ambassador said news of violence and disappearance appearing on the front page of newspapers in Bangladesh gave 'devastating' signal to the outside world and discouraged foreign investors.

"My concern is the image of the country which is required to attract foreign investment for the country's private sector," he said as he believed private sector's growth was imperative for Bangladesh as it wished to be a middle-income country by 2021. The French Ambassador said image crisis meant 'it is very difficult to get French investment here.' The Dutch envoy said the media should expose the corruption they notice in different sectors.

"Corruption is ingrained in the society," he said, expressing his frustration that neither the BNP nor the Awami League, when in power, uses its huge majority in Parliament to enact 'strong anti-corruption legislation'.  "We want our taxpayers' money used in best ways." Replying a question, the British High Commissioner said violent demonstration and shutdown impeded production and harmed economy.

"We try hard so that British-aided development projects are not affected by the hartals." Replying to another question, he said the British government's training programme for the RAB had finished and 'there is no plan to launch fresh training programme' for the elite force. The Swedish Ambassador said steps should be in place to minimise the infringement on the human rights and urged the civil society and the media to highlight the issue. The German Ambassador suggested improvement of the investment climate in Bangladesh by addressing the problems of infrastructure, electricity, transport and bureaucracy to woo the foreign investment. The Spanish Ambassador said they were trying to give the negative image of Bangladesh a make-over.

Otherwise, he said: "Foreign companies will go to elsewhere from Bangladesh for investment, which would be unfortunate for the country." A book on 'Bangladesh and Europe 2012' was unveiled at the end of the press conference.  Ambassador Hanna said the book was an attempt to show the full extent of cooperation between the EU and Bangladesh. With a face of a tiger covering most of the blue cover, the Ambassador said: "We tried to make a very nice and positive image of Bangladesh."

The EU celebrates European Day, also known as Schuman Declaration, every year since 1951 as Schuman presented his proposal for the creation of an organised Europe as a prerequisite for the maintenance of peace between France and Germany on May 9, 1950.