European parliament members to visit Bangladesh

A delegation of the European Parliament will undertake a mission to Bangladesh from March 24 to 25. Chairperson of the Delegation for Relations with South Asia Jean Lambert will lead the delegation, according to a release issued by the delegation of the European Union to Bangladesh. The members of the cross-party European Parliament delegation are: Jean Lambert (Greens /European Free Alliance), John Attard- Montalto (Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats), Salvador Sedo i Alabart (European People's Party) and Niccol Rinaldi (Alliance of Democrats and Liberals). This mission comes ahead of the first anniversary of the catastrophic Rana Plaza building collapse, which claimed over a thousand lives of garment workers, reports BSS. The members of the European Parliament will discuss with relevant stakeholders the implementation of the measures adopted to improve factory safety and workers' rights, notably the EU-Bangladesh Global Sustainability Compact. Concerned that the political parties did not manage to agree on an inclusive mechanism for the January 2014 elections, the EP delegation will discuss the post-election scenario as well as social and economic issues with key Bangladeshi decision-makers and civil society representatives. During the visit, the EP delegation plans to meet the prime minister, the speaker of parliament, the foreign minister, the commerce minister, the BNP chairperson and representatives of civil society.