German Ambassador to Bangladesh Dr Rüdiger Lotz paid a courtesy call on Jatiya Sangsad Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmad Bir Bikram at the Speaker’s office in Dhaka on Wednesday.
During the meeting, the Speaker said Bangladesh and Germany have longstanding friendly relations. He said the presence of a German observer team during Bangladesh’s latest national election further strengthened the existing ties between the two countries.
Hafiz Uddin said Bangladesh and Germany are “brotherly countries” in the democratic sphere.
The Speaker also spoke about Bangladesh’s political history and said the country had faced prolonged exploitation and democratic discrimination during the Pakistan period. He said the country gained independence through the Liberation War in 1971 but its democratic transition was repeatedly disrupted.
Referring to the previous 15 years, the Speaker alleged that people had become frustrated with what he described as Awami League misrule. He said a mass uprising led by students and the public took place against enforced disappearances, killings, extrajudicial killings and what he called “farce elections”.
Against this backdrop, he said democracy had been restored through an acceptable and neutral election.
The Speaker said the people of Bangladesh had repeatedly sacrificed for democracy and had remained committed to the long struggle to establish the rule of law.
Ambassador Lotz said Bangladesh had moved away from what he described as 15 years of authoritarian rule and was making a transition from dictatorship towards democracy. He said the elected government faces many challenges and pledged Germany’s maximum support for strengthening democracy in Bangladesh.
The meeting also discussed the formation of a Germany-Bangladesh parliamentary committee and expanding parliamentary diplomacy through friendship groups.
The participants also stressed the importance of increasing German investment in Bangladesh, including exploring oil and gas wells in coastal areas and establishing fertiliser factories.
The Speaker invited German experts to explore oil and gas resources in Bangladesh’s maritime zone and coastal areas. He also told the ambassador that the country’s future economy would depend significantly on energy.
Representatives of the German Embassy and relevant officials of the Bangladesh Parliament Secretariat were present at the meeting.
