Chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus on Friday told the visiting United Nations secretary general Antonio Guterres that the national election could be held in December this year if the political parties agreed to ‘a short package’ of reforms, but it would be held by June next year if the parties settled for ‘a larger package’.
‘Election could be held in December provided the political parties agreed to a short package of reforms, but it will be held by June next year if the parties settled for a larger package of reforms,’ he told the UN secretary general in a meeting at his Tejgaon office in Dhaka.Â
The chief adviser reaffirmed his commitment to holding ‘free, fair and participatory elections’, according to a release issued by the chief adviser’s press wing.
The UN secretary general, who arrived in Dhaka on a four-day visit on Thursday, reaffirmed the UN’s commitment to Dhaka’s reform agenda initiated by the interim government.
‘I want to express our total commitment to the reform process. We are here to support your reforms. We wish you all the best. Whatever we can do, let us know,’ the UN chief told Yunus during his hour-long meeting.
He hoped that the reforms would lead to a free and fair election and a ‘real transformation’ of the country.
‘I know the process of reforms can be complex,’ he told the UN secretary general.
Guterres said that he was also here to express solidarity with Myanmar’s forcibly displaced Rohingya people during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
He expressed the UN’s ‘enormous gratitude’ to Bangladesh for hosting the Rohingya people. Â
Professor Yunus thanked the UN secretary general for visiting the country at such a crucial time.
The chief adviser briefed Guterres about the reform process, saying that about 10 political parties had already submitted their responses to the reports of the six reform commissions constituted by the interim government.
Yunus said that once the parties agreed to the recommendations of the six commissions, they would sign a national consensus charter, or July Charter, which would be the blueprint for the country’s democratic transition and implementation of the political, judicial, electoral, administrative, anti-corruption and police reforms, according to the release.
Guterres lauded the contribution of the Bangladesh peacekeeping forces in maintaining peace and stability in some of the troubled corners of the world.
Professor Yunus also praised the Bangladesh peacekeepers, saying Bangladesh military gets unique exposure in these assignments. Â
Geopolitics and the status of SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) and Bangladesh’s relationships with neighbours were also featured in the talks with Professor Yunus highlighting his efforts to revive the South Asian regional forum.
The chief adviser also highlighted his proposal to create a South Asia grid involving Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and India to tap and import huge hydropower from the Himalayan nations.
He said that Bangladesh was building a series of ports in the country’s Chattogram region in a bid to transform the country into ‘an economic hub’, connecting Bangladesh with the landlocked countries of Nepal and Bhutan and India’s Northeastern region.
Yunus said that the interim government had been fully supported by almost every country in the world, including the United States, the European Union, China and Japan.
About the state of the economy, the chief adviser said that his government had inherited a ruined economy with a broken banking sector, dwindling reserves and destroyed institutions.
The chief adviser also outlined his government’s efforts to bring back tens of billions of dollars stolen by the leadership and cronies of the ousted regime of Sheikh Hasina, who fled to India on August 5 amid a student-led mass uprising.
He said that some $234 billion dollars had been siphoned off during the 16-year-long dictatorship.
The UN secretary general said that it all reminded him of his time during the revolutionary days in 1974 in Portugal.
Professor Yunus also thanked the High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk for the work of the UN fact-finding mission, which documented atrocities and potential crimes against humanity committed by the Sheikh Hasina regime.
Foreign adviser Md Touhid Hossain, high Representative to chief adviser on Rohingya issue and priority matters Khalilur Rahman and senior secretary Lamiya Morshed were present in the meeting, also attended by UN under-secretary general Rabab Fatima and UN resident coordinator to Bangladesh Gwyn Lewis.
