European Parliament delegation arrives Monday

A delegation of the European Parliament (EP) will arrive in Dhaka on Monday on a two-day visit (March 24-25) to discuss post-election scenario in Bangladesh and see the progress made in the readymade garment industry after the Rana Plaza building collapse. Chairperson of the Delegation for relations with South Asia Jean Lambert will lead the EP delegation. This mission comes ahead of the first anniversary of the catastrophic Rana Plaza building collapse, which cost over a thousand lives of garment workers, said a media release issued on Saturday. The Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) 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. The EP delegation will also 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 will meet Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury, Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali, Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed, BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia and representatives of civil society. The members of the cross-party EP 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 Niccolò Rinaldi (Alliance of Democrats and Liberals), according to UNB.