Foreign secy assures EBA review mission that all parties will join polls
Foreign, commerce and labour secretaries told the visiting EU delegation that political parties would participate in the elections and assured them of free and fair elections
Foreign Secretary Masud bin Momen assured the visiting delegation of the European Union's (EU) Everything But Arms (EBA) review mission that the upcoming national elections will be free and fair, with the participation of all the political parties.
"The EU delegation did not ask any questions about organising the next election in the meeting. But we have informed them that the elections will be free and fair and all parties will participate in the elections. The election schedule will be announced tonight," he said in response to questions from journalists after a meeting with the EU delegation at state guest House Padma on Wednesday (15 November).
Commerce Secretary Tapan Kanti Ghosh and Labour Secretary Md Ehsan E Elahi were present at that time.
The three secretaries said they told the visiting EU delegation that political parties would participate in the elections and assured them of free and fair elections.
They said that there was a discussion on worker dissatisfaction, labour rights and human rights regarding the recently announced minimum wages for the RMG workers in the meeting.
EU has said that labour rights and human rights must be strictly followed to get the GSP+ facility, Secretary Masud Bin Momen said.
"We spoke in detail about human rights in the UPR. They were informed about that in the meeting," he added.
The Commerce Secretary Tapan Kanti Ghosh said the EU is developing a framework for GSP+ facility.
"We have requested them to include the ready-made garment industry there," he added.
"Bangladesh alone among the LDCs has been able to use EBA successfully because of ready-made garments" 86% of our total exports are readymade garments. Therefore, I have requested that the manufactured garment products should be included under the GSP+ facility," the commerce secretary further said.
Labour Secretary Md Ehsan E Elahi said, "7-8 issues from the recommendations of ILO were not included in the amended labour law passed by the parliament. The EU wants to know the reason. We have told them that when the labour law is amended again in the future, these will be included.
"The session of Parliament was coming to an end. So we quickly revised the labour law as much as we could. The EU has asked for a copy of the gazette of the law passed by the Parliament," he added.