US Ambassador in Dhaka Dan Mozena on Monday stressed the urgency of a constructive dialogue among the major parties to find a way forward to hold free, fair and credible elections in Bangladesh. “I think, these developments make it even more urgent that the major parties engage in constructive dialogue to find a way forward to hold free, fair and credible elections,” Mozena said after a meeting with new Foreign Minister Abul Hasan Mahmud Ali at his ministry in the afternoon. He, however, said he does not know whether the Chief Election Commissioner will be doing that or not as his comment was sought on the Election Commission’s plan to announce the election schedule despite the opposition BNP’s threat to boycott the polls unless it is held under a non-partisan administration. When his attention was drawn as ‘inclusive’ remains missing which he used before, the US diplomat said, “I don’t know when I said inclusive but maybe at some point. To me free, fair and credible election…that’s the standard. Credible as defined by the people of Bangladesh.” About the much-hyped Trade and Investment Cooperation Forum Agreement (Ticfa), the US envoy said it will be signed in Washington at 10 am, local time (9:15pm BST). Acting Deputy United States Trade Representative Wendy Cutler and Bangladesh Commerce Secretary Mahbub Ahmed will sign Ticfa on behalf of their respective sides. “We discussed that. It’s a very simple agreement. The text of the agreement will be published today or tomorrow.” He said it establishes a bilateral forum and Bangladesh and the US will meet once a year or could be more to identify obstacles to increasing bilateral trade and investment and how to overcome those obstacles. Mozena said there would be a brief meeting of the forum after the signing. “This is a good thing. It would be a short meeting, and both sides will introduce the issues that they would like to see as obstacles to increasing trade and investment.” He said both the sides have some ideas and they would put those on the table for discussion in the first meeting. Quoting US Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Nisha Desai Biswal, the US envoy said violence is not acceptable and violence from any quarter is not acceptable. “I briefed the new minister on that visit (Nisha’s) which I thought was terrific and great success,” he said. Ambassador Mozena said he shared with the minister the Assistant Secretary’s message as it related to political situation and specifically three points of the message. “One point is violence from any quarter is not acceptable. It’s not part of the democratic process. Secondly, every political party has the right to have space to freely and peacefully express its views,” he said. Thirdly, the US diplomat said, the Assistant Secretary underscored the call for major parties to engage in a constructive dialogue to find a way forward to hold free, fair and credible elections. “Credible means credible in the eyes of people of Bangladesh.” About his discussion with the new Foreign Minister, he said he gave him a briefing on America’s relationship with Bangladesh. “What I said is that America’s partnership and relationship with Bangladesh have never been broader, deeper and stronger than it is today.” He also shared with the Foreign Minister many areas of engagements like health, agriculture, global climate, environment, military to military relationship, violent extremism and food security. – UNB
