Ambassador and head of delegation of the European Union to Bangladesh Charles Whiteley on Monday said that the EU wanted to see more collaboration in the area of security and defence in Bangladesh beside their support in achieving the goal of green transition.
鈥榃e want to see more collaboration in the future on security and defence in particular鈥his is an area where we can learn from each other,鈥� the EU envoy said, responding to a question at the DCAB Talk in the capital.
Referring to the attack on the Holey Artisan Bakery by extremists in Dhaka eight years back, Whiteley said that they had seen how Bangladesh had got to grips with the phenomenon as the country had spent several years tackling the threat of Islamist extremism.
He, however, said that the European Investment Bank was willing to invest more in Bangladesh considering the country as 鈥榞ood risk鈥� for loans.
The outgoing EU envoy mentioned that the EU was supporting Bangladesh in energy sector also in its green transition, raising the clean energy to 40 per cent by 2041.聽
He also spoke about the new initiative of the Global Gateway through which Brussels offered 鈥榪uality infrastructural and technology transfer鈥�, something different from Chinese offer.
鈥業t is very different from the Chinese offer. What we are about offering is a different vision of support to connectivity, infrastructure and digitalisation,鈥� he mentioned, adding that they always give emphasis on quality as well competiveness in building infrastructures.聽
He said that it was Bangladesh鈥檚 choice with whom it wanted to do business.
The Diplomatic Correspondents Association, Bangladesh organised the event moderated by the DCAB president Nurul Islam Hasib. The DCAB general secretary Ashiqur Rahman Apu also spoke on the occasion.
Whiteley said that climate change would be a crucial challenge for Bangladesh and they needed to listen to Bangladesh on climate debate as they had obligations as historical polluters.
He also said that Bangladesh had relatively healthy debt to GDP (Gross Domestic Product) ratio that was 37 per cent although the figure was 80 per cent for some Asian countries while the average debt to GDP ratio was more than 80 per cent in Europe.
Whiteley, who is going to leave Bangladesh soon after completing his three-year tenure, appreciated Bangladesh鈥檚 approach to new regulations of the EU, a 27-member economic bloc, which is a major destination of Bangladeshi exports.聽
He said that Bangladesh made a strong progress on anticipating its transition to the GSP (Generalised System of Preferences) Plus as it was set to graduate from the Least Developed Countries category.
Bangladesh benefits from the 鈥楨verything but Arms鈥� arrangement of the GSP for least developed countries,聽 which grants duty-free, quota-free access for all exports, except arms and ammunition.
