Visiting UK Minister of State for International Development Alan Duncan expressed surprise over BNP senior vice-chairman Tarique Rahman’s claim that his father Ziaur Rahman was the ‘first president of Bangladesh’, says State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam.
“They’re surprised. They’re also not getting any explanation why a political party suddenly comes up with a distorted version of history. They expressed their surprise,” Alam told reporters quoting Duncan as saying on Tuesday.
The junior minister also said the issue came up for discussion when he raised it saying Tarique Rahman made a statement in London and what they (British govt) think of it.
In response, the British Minister said this came to them as a strange idea and they were surprised at the attempts to distort history.
He was talking to the journalists after a meeting with Duncan at his office. British High Commissioner in Dhaka Robert W Gibson was also present at the meeting.
Asked whether there was any discussion on the January 5 election and future political dialogue, the state minister said they did not raise any question on the acceptability of the election.
“They’re going to meet opposition leader Raushan Ershad,” he said adding that it makes clear their position.
He also said Duncan expressed satisfaction as the country is back to business and the people of Bangladesh got back relief after the January 5 elections.
The State Minister also said they have discussed various issues of cooperation, including the ways how the Rohingya issue can be resolved.
Responding to a question on bringing back Tarique Rahman, he said there is no warrant against him right now. “There’re certain procedures. Once warrant is issued then only we can act,” he said adding the Home Ministry will look into it.
Meanwhile, Duncan expressed satisfaction over the discussion with Shahriar Alam and assured of continuing cooperation with the government.
“I had a very good meeting. Particularly, we spoke about the future of the millennium development goals (MDGs) because Bangladesh is very important for our development efforts from the UK,” he told reporters while making his brief statement after the meeting with Shahriar Alam.
On RMG issue, Duncan said all the NGOs, government and other stakeholders need to work together to make sure that the standard in the RMG sector can be modernised.
The British Minister applauded the efforts of Bangladesh in achieving the MDGs and also post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals.
He also mentioned that the government of Bangladesh might keep an eye on its health sector particularly so that its achievements in that sector are not diminished.
The British Minister expressed satisfaction at the existing extent of cooperation between Bangladesh and the United Kingdom. He reaffirmed Uk’s support and cooperation in the development of Bangladesh.
He informed the State Minister that the bilateral expenditure of the DFID in Bangladesh is 260 million pound.
However, DFID implements its projects through UNDP, other international organisations and NGOs and as a whole through them DFID contributes 400 million pounds in the development projects in Bangladesh.
The minister also expressed his satisfaction over the status of implementation of projects in Bangladesh by DFID and assured that the amount of fund of DFID for Bangladesh would grow in the future.
Terming trade relations between the two countries as satisfactory, the State Minster for Foreign Affairs urged the UK to make efforts to further diversify its import from Bangladesh in other emerging areas.
He emphasised the need for cooperation from the UK in energy and agriculture sectors.
Duncan who arrived here on Monday to check the progress on health and safety standards in the garment industry also met Finance Minister AMA Muhith and Labour Minister Mujibul Haque Chunnu before meeting the State Minister for Foreign Affairs.
Duncan will meet Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Opposition Leader Raushan Ershad, and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia.
Besides, he will inaugurate the new offices of DFID/UKaid during his stay in Dhaka.
Source: UNB Connect
