‘Free, fair polls to help attract foreign investment’

The major political parties should forge some common understanding through dialogue to ensure free and fair polls by way of making accommodation and compromise, new German Ambassador Frank Meyke said in an interview with the UNB in the city yesterday.

He said free and fair elections would be an important signal at home and abroad, not least to investors, that democracy and political stability, law and order and human rights are being strengthened in the country.

"Germany is determined to support all efforts to strengthen democracy and human rights in Bangladesh. This is our overriding objective in our relationship with Bangladesh," the envoy noted.

Meyke said the European Union would send a 10-member pre-poll exploratory mission to Dhaka on September 13.

During its nine-day visit, the mission would study the election arrangements and decide if it is useful and feasible to send an election observer mission. They would also recommend what contributions the EU could make for fair polls.

The ambassador observed that the Election Commission seemed to be on the right track going for door-to-door campaign to update the voter list. They would be able to complete the task for holding the polls on time, he hoped.

Meyke said the EU has offered 2.7 million Euro to support electoral process with a civic awareness programme to enable the electorate in targeted areas to make informed decision at the ballot box and sensitise citizens to their rights.

During the hour-long interview, the ambassador also talked about German-Bangladesh bilateral ties, trade and investment and bottlenecks to overseas investment.

He pointed out that red tape, lack of transparency regarding decision-making process, power crisis, congested harbour of Chittagong, and telephone communications problems are some of the most obvious obstacles that hold back foreign investors from making investment here.

Besides, the envoy said, the most important political obstacle to foreign investment is the lack of congenial political climate, confrontational politics and politically motivated violence, which prevent new investment and negatively affect the existing ones.

Due to lack of transparency, he mentioned, the KFW was forced to withdraw 67 million Euro from Dhaka North Power Plant and 20 million Euro from the Rural Power Company Ltd in Mymensingh. The funds will now be reprogrammed to other sectors.

Last year, during the government-level negotiations, the German government talked about 87 million Euro of reprogrammed and new commitments, the ambassador said.

In reply to a question, he said, "A possible increase of commitments will be considered by the German government taking into account our own budgetary situation and good governance issues in Bangladesh."

The next government-level negotiations will take place in Berlin on October 16 to 18.

Since 1971, Germany has provided bilateral technical and economic assistance amounting to 2.3 billion Euro, and since 1978, the European country has been providing grants to Bangladesh.

He said trade and investment are of vital significance for economic growth, reduction of poverty and strengthening a free and liberal society and democracy as well as human rights in Bangladesh.

In two-way trade in 2004-05, Bangladesh's exports to Germany were worth USD 1353.80 million against the imports of USD 257.95 million.

Meyke said if congenial climate for investment is assured, German investors could make investment in textile sector, particularly RMG, IT sector and agro-based industries.

Referring to German support for Ashuganj Power Plant and financial assistance for the overhaul of blocks 4 and 5 of the plant, he said Germany is increasingly focusing its assistance towards renewable energy (solar home systems, promotion of the use of biogas) and measures regarding energy efficiency.

Asked about more market access for Bangladeshi products by further relaxing the rules of origin, he said Bangladesh has been enjoying the highest possible market access through GSP and as an LDC in the bilateral relations with the EU for decades. This market access has been reassured for indefinite period under the Everything But Arms (EBA) deal 2001.

He said the EU acknowledges the difficulties associated with fulfilling rules-of-origin criteria for GSP. Accordingly, the European Commission has started working on revising the rules of origin for the generalised system of preferences.

The objectives are to make the rules simple and development-friendly. Because of the complexity related to the issue, the final outcome is not expected before the end of this year, the envoy said.