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The United Nations and European Union in separate statements have extended support to Bangladesh’s newly formed interim government led by Nobel laureate Professor Mohammad Yunus.

UN resident coordinator in Bangladesh Gwyn Lewis on Friday said that the United Nations had a crucial role in supporting the Professor Muhammad Yunus-led transition government until a national election was announced in the coming months.

‘The United Nations has a very important role in supporting this transition government,’ the United News of Bangladesh reported, quoting her to have told reporters after a meeting with a Bangladesh Nationalist Party delegation, led by Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, at the party chairperson’s Gulshan office.

A 17-member interim government was formed on Thursday after Awami League president Sheikh Hasina resigned as prime minister and took shelter in India on August 5 amid mass uprising spearheaded by student protesters against her regime.   

Welcoming the swearing-in of the members of Bangladesh’s interim government, led by Muhammad Yunus, EU high representative Josep Borrell said that Bangladesh was now entering a period of transition and the interim government would have an important task to prepare the ground for democratic elections and ensure accountability for the deaths and violence that had occurred.

‘The EU looks forward to engaging with the new administration and to supporting this critical transition which should be part of a peaceful and inclusive process underpinned by good governance, democratic values and respect for human rights,’ Josep Borrell said in a statement shared on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

China has also welcome the Professor Yunus-led interim government and reiterated that Beijing strictly followed the principle of non-interference in other countries’ internal affairs.

‘We respect Bangladesh’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity and the development path independently chosen by the Bangladeshi people,’ said a spokesperson at the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The friendship between Bangladesh and China runs long and deep, the United News of Bangladesh reported quoting the spokesperson as saying.

‘China values its relations with Bangladesh, and stands ready to work with Bangladesh to promote bilateral exchanges and cooperation in various areas and further advance our comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership,’ the spokesperson mentioned.

The United States Department of State has said that they had made it clear that the US wanted to see the interim government led by Professor Mohammad Yunus chart a democratic future for the people of Bangladesh.

‘So I’m not going to speak to the private diplomatic conversations, but obviously one of the things that we have made clear is that we want to see the interim government chart a democratic future for the people of Bangladesh,’ the US Department of State spokesperson Matthew Miller told a routine press briefing at his office in Washington on Thursday hours after Muhammad Yunus was sworn in as the chief of the interim leadership of Bangladesh in Dhaka.

He was asked whether there had been any direct or indirect communication with Professor Yunus on assumption of his new responsibilities. :

Welcoming Yunus’s call for an end to the recent violence, Miller said that their charge d’affaires in Dhaka attended the swearing in administered by the president.

‘We stand ready to work with the interim government and Dr Yunus as it charts a democratic future for the people of Bangladesh,’ the spokesperson said.

Ambassador of Sweden to Bangladesh Alex Berg von Linde wrote in a statement shared on X that a new chapter in Bangladesh’s history had begun.

‘Good luck to the new interim government, led by Professor Muhammad Yunus, with the challenging tasks ahead. Sweden has been, and will remain, a strong partner to Bangladesh and its people,’ she said.

Pakistan prime minister Shehbaz Sharif also congratulated Prof Muhammad Yunus on his appointment as the chief adviser of Bangladesh’s interim government.

‘Heartiest felicitations to Professor Muhammad Yunus on his swearing-in as chief adviser of the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh,’ Shehbaz said in a statement posted on X on Friday.