Appreciating the prevailing political stability in the country, the Visiting German Parliamentary delegation has expressed doubt whether it can be maintained for the next five years.
"I must express the Bundestag's concerns that the current parliament has been elected by a small part of the electorate only, with tens of millions of voters having been deprived of the possibility to cast their ballots."
Dagmar G Wohrl, head of the delegation, made the statement at a press conference in the capital on Tuesday.
She said: "While we appreciate the stability this country has again found today, we have some doubts whether it can be maintained for a full period of five years unless substantial dialogue between the major political forces starts, rather sooner than later. We would hope to soon receive a positive signal from Bangladesh in this respect."
Expressing optimism to continue the support to Bangladesh, the delegation chief said: "German remains committed to continue its support to Bangladesh on its way to leave behind poverty, and to consolidate its democracy."
In reply to a query whether Germany wants fresh elections in Bangladesh, she said the German delegation expressed its concern over the political system in Bangladesh while meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
“But it is up to Bangladesh whether it would hold new elections or not. Dialogue should be resumed soon... We regretted that a mechanism of participatory election was not found. The matter of new election is yours (Bangladesh),” Dagmar said.
In reply to another query of whether the relationship between Bangladesh and Germany would be affected after the January 5 elections, she said that Germany would continue to work with Bangladesh as the two countries have a long standing tie.
German parliament member Stefan Rebmann said Bangladesh would be assessed critically and would be under focus in the future about workers’ safety and job security.
“Germany has strong trade unions and Bangladesh also should have powerful trade unions for the sake of progress and sustainable development,” he said adding that strong trade union helps country to move towards progress and development.
Being asked whether more German investment would come to Bangladesh in the future he replied that it depended on safety and job security of the workers frame work.
Dagmar said: “As Germany is Bangladesh's second biggest market worldwide, it creates a joint obligation for buyers, traders and producers, for your government and for ours, for your trade unions and civil society and ours, to make sure that production and working conditions are up to international standards."
Regarding the working atmosphere in the RMG sector, especially after the Rana Plaza collapse, she further said: “Some progress has been made, no doubt, all stakeholders deserve praise for this.”
"But it is only the beginning of a long road, which Germany is ready to go with Bangladesh."
Praising Bangladesh for achieving the millennium development goals, Dagmar said Bangladesh was considered a role model in areas such as poverty reduction, increasing enrollment at primary schools and lowering infant and maternal rate.
In the press briefing, German Ambassador to Bangladesh Dr Albrecht Conze, Deputy Head of Delegation Stefan Rebmann, Jürgen Klimke, Frank Heinrich, Gabi Weber, Niema Movassat and Uwe Kekeritz were also present.
