A meeting is underway between the Chief Adviser, Prof Muhammad Yunus, and the delegation from 27 European Union (EU) countries. The delegation is led by Michael Miller, the ambassador-designate and head of the European Union Delegation to Bangladesh.
The meeting started at noon today at the Chief Advisor's Office and is expected to last for about an hour. The chief adviser is likely to call for increased investment to resolve Bangladesh's ongoing crises during the meeting.
Earlier on 5 December, Rafiqul Alam, director general of the Public Diplomacy Wing at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said during a weekly briefing that the upcoming dialogue will aim to chart the course for continued trade and economic collaboration as Bangladesh transitions out of the LDC category.
"This will be a unique opportunity to discuss a broad range of issues, including enhanced cooperation in economic sectors, the Rohingya crisis, post-LDC Generalized Scheme of Preferences plus (GSP+) facilities, and a potential Partnership and Cooperation Agreement with Bangladesh," he said at the briefing.
The EU trade relationship with Bangladesh has been anchored in the Everything But Arms (EBA) initiative, granting duty-free, quota-free market access to the least developed countries (LDCs) since 2001.
This is the first time that ambassadors from all 27 EU countries will convene for a joint meeting with the Bangladeshi government, signalling their collective commitment to deepening ties, foreign ministry sources said. Currently, ambassadors of seven EU states are based in Dhaka, while the remaining 20 operate from New Delhi.
Messenger/EHM
