Lamy seeks PM’s support for French bid to host World Expo

Visiting French special envoy Pascal Lamy expressed on Sunday his optimism that Bangladesh would support France's plan to host the World Expo-2025 considering vibrant relations between the two countries, reports UNB.

"France and Bangladesh are well-aligned," Lamy, also former Director General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), told reporters at the France-German Embassy on Sunday afternoon.

He, however, said it is the decision of Bangladesh to be taken considering political, economic and other issues.

Lamy said the European Union would remain the largest market for Bangladesh which might come into consideration apart from cooperation in the areas of technology and others.

Responding to a question, the French special envoy said the international community needed to exert more pressure on Myanmar to find a solution to the Rohingya crisis. He also laid emphasis on repatriation of Rohingyas and reiterated support to Bangladesh.

Earlier he met Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at her office on Sunday morning and sought her support for hosting the world expo.

As the French government wants to host the World Expo-2025, Pascal Lamy requested Bangladesh to extend support to this end, said Prime Minister's Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim while briefing reporters after the meeting.

In response to Pascal Lamy's request, Sheikh Hasina said Bangladesh would consider it.

During the meeting, the Prime Minister said her government had relentlessly been working for the economic development of the country.

Apart from the normal development work, she said the government had also been working on the blue economy after winning the maritime boundary cases against India and Myanmar.

Hasina said Oceanography had been introduced at two universities, including Chittagong University, to create skilled manpower for the blue economy.

The Prime Minister also recalled her recent visit to France and praised the French President terming him 'young and energetic leader'.

The former WTO DG highly appreciated the economic development of Bangladesh under the visionary leadership of Sheikh Hasina.

Bangladesh is doing well on the socio-economic front, said Pascal Lamy who served for two consecutive terms as the WTO DG from 2005 to 2013.

Lamy explained France's vision behind candidacy for the World Expo 2025. Four countries-France (in Greater Paris), Japan (in Osaka), the Russian Federation (in Ekaterinburg) and Azerbaijan (in Baku) -- are candidates to host the World Expo 2025.

The bid was submitted on September 28 to the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), the intergovernmental organisation in charge of overseeing and regulating World Expos.

The 170 member states of the BIE will elect the host country at the 164th General Assembly in November 2018.

The theme chosen for this expo is 'Knowledge sharing and protection of the planet," which reflects the priorities of the international action to protect the planet, while 2025 will coincide with the 10th anniversary of the Paris Climate Agreement.

France had hosted five major world exhibitions in the 19th century, and hosted an international exhibition on modern art and technology in 1937. France thinks the World Expo is also an opportunity for French citizens and the country to redesign their openness to the world and French adherence to the universal values.

An FE report adds: Pascal Lamy also met Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed at his office on Sunday afternoon.

In the meeting, the commerce minister requested the French envoy to help award Bangladesh the GSP plus facility after the country's graduation as a developing nation from the least developed country (LDC) status. He said Bangladesh is likely to turn into a developing country in March next.

"Bangladesh is going to graduate as a developing county," Tofail told the reporters after his meeting with Lamy.

"It has met three criteria to graduate as a developing county according to the UN Economic and Social Council. An evaluation would be made about Bangladesh in March, 2018 again. After the evaluation, a decision would be taken that the country is going to be a developing country from the Least Developed Country (LDC) status."

In reply to a question on why Bangladesh should support France's bid for the expo, he said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had been one of the leaders addressing the climate change for an obvious reason. The previous French president and the incumbent president are among these leaders. Bangladesh and France have to do something together to that end.

When asked about the strict immigration policy of the European Union, he said EU policy leaves it quite open to all through the legal channel. Bangladesh and European Union have agreement about readmission of illegal immigrants.

Lamy arrived in Dhaka on Saturday on a two-day visit.