Norwegian Ambassador Espen Rikter-Svendsen has stressed the need to look ahead as the general election is over in Bangladesh.
“I only want to stress the need to look ahead. Since my arrival here in Dhaka three and a half years ago, we have been talking and talking and talking about the upcoming election. Now this upcoming election has turned into the past election. We know now what the parliament will look like in the next five years,” he said.
The ambassador set the tone of a seminar on Wednesday which brought politicians from different parties, academics and representatives of civil society together to discuss the next five years of Bangladesh.
Leading English daily Dhaka Tribune organized the seminar styled “Setting the agenda: What will the next 5 years bring?”.
Former state minister Md Shahriar Alam MP; Shama Obaid, organizing secretary of BNP, Prof Dr Imtiaz Ahmed, professor of international relations at Dhaka University; Prof Nuzhat Choudhury, daughter of Dr Abdul Alim Chaudhury, one of the martyred intellectuals during the 1971 Liberation War, and Dr Manisha Chakraborty, central committee member of a left-leaning political party Bangladesh Samajtantrik Dal (BaSaD), were in the panel, moderated by Dhaka Tribune Editor Zafar Sobhan.
This was the fifth such seminar and first after the general elections held on January 7, organized by Dhaka Tribune with the support of the embassy of Norway.
The ambassador appreciated Dhaka Tribune for “a capable and staunch partner” for the embassy.
He said the purpose of the seminar was to bring people from different camps together to help us gain a better understanding of complex issues.
“Bringing people together is part of the Norwegian brand. It is what we do all around the world. We're great believers in dialogue,” he said, adding that they promote open discussion.
“I come from a country where no party has had a majority alone since 1957. The current Norwegian parliament has ten different parties represented. The prime minister of Norway can get nothing through parliament without talking to or negotiating with other parties,” the ambassador said.
“We believe that this gives us better and more thorough political debates, which again leads to better decisions and good governance,” he said.
Espen Rikter-Svendsen said: “Today's seminar is about looking ahead. Moreover, I hope we can talk to each other not only about each other. I hope we can focus on what we want to achieve instead of blaming each other for the past.
“Bangladesh is a great country with great potential. The question, of course, is how to achieve it,” he said, adding that inclusive dialogues are essential for that.
“The embassy's role is to be a facilitator, nothing more.”