Germany wants govt to resume dialogue with major parties

Visiting German Parliamentary delegation Tuesday urged the government to resume dialogue with major political forces soon to maintain political stability in the country for a longer period.
“While we appreciate the stability this country has again found today, we’ve 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,” said delegation leader Dagmar Woehrl, according to a news agency.
Woehrl who has been the Chair of the Committee on Economic Cooperation and Development since 2009 said they would hope to soon receive a positive signal from Bangladesh in this respect.
She was addressing a press conference at German House in the city while wrapping up their four-day visit to Bangladesh.
Deputy Head of Delegation Stefan Rebmann, Jürgen Klimke, Frank Heinrich, Gabi Weber, Niema Movassat, Uwe Kekeritz and German Ambassador in Dhaka Dr Albrecht Conze were also present.
Referring to their talks with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Woehrl said they had a very open and frank discussion with the Prime Minister in the morning and discussed various topics.
“We also raised our concerns about democratic process in Bangladesh,” she said adding that Prime Minister also understood their position.
Commenting on the January 5 elections, the delegation chief said, “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.”
Asked whether Germany wants to see a fresh election in Bangladesh, Woehrl said the people of Bangladesh would decide whether they want a fresh election or not. “This is up to you to decide.”
She said resuming dialogue among political parties is important to them as in a democratic process a stronger opposition can help the country move forward.