Staff correspondent :<\/p>\n
Minister Sheikh Hasina has said the Awami League (AL) government also wants free and fair elections in Bangladesh likewise the United Kingdom (UK) as its Foreign Minister James Cleverly along with his wife Susannah Sparks called on her here.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe also want fair elections. My party always maintains democracy in the country. We have given the country\u2019s democracy a strong footing,\u201d Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen quoted her as saying while briefing reporters after their meeting on Saturday (local time).The meeting was held at the bilateral meeting room of Sheikh Hasina\u2019s Palace of Residence, The Claridge Hotel in London.<\/p>\n
Briefing the newsmen at the hotel, the foreign minister said the UK foreign minister has talked about the upcoming general election in Bangladesh and they want a fair election to be held in the country.<\/p>\n
In response, the Bangladesh prime minister said, \u201cWe\u2019re committed to holding a fair election. It requires participation of all and I want cooperation from all to hold a fair poll.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said the AL government has done everything required to hold a fair election that includes introducing a voter list with photographs and transparent ballot boxes as none can manipulate the polls.<\/p>\n
On the contrary, the BNP had prepared a voter list with 1.23 crore fake voters for rigging votes during its tenure, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have made the Election Commission (EC) as independent and powerful enough alongside bringing institutional frameworks to hold a fair election,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
The prime minister said they believe in Westminster like democracy following which Bangladesh has introduced a question-answer session.<\/p>\n
During the meeting, several bilateral issues like climate, trade and commerce alongside the Rohingya have come up for the talks prominently among others issues, Momen said.
\nThe UK foreign minister has highly praised the humanitarian role of Bangladesh premier for sheltering a huge number of Rohingyas in Bangladesh.Britain will remain beside Bangladesh for quick repatriation of Rohingyas,\u201d he said.Momen said the British government has taken a bill on the Rohingya issue in the Security Council and played an effective role to pass the resolution.<\/p>\n
The UK foreign minister also expressed his gratitude to the Bangladesh premier as she joined the coronation of King Charles III.<\/p>\n
Sheikh Hasina said Bangladesh has a very good relationship with the UK since Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur\u00a0 Rahman arrived in London after being released from the Pakistani jail following the country\u2019s independence and was warmly received there.<\/p>\n
The UK foreign minister said, \u201cRelations between Bangladesh and the UK is very deep-rooted and it is being further consolidated as the days approaches and the relationship has been strengthened over the years.\u201d
\nHe lauded the economic advancement of Bangladesh under the dynamic leadership of Sheikh Hasina.<\/p>\n
The Bangladesh premier has highly praised the late Queen Elizabeth II recalling that the Queen had always inquired about her and her younger sister Sheikh Rehana.
\nMomen said Sheikh Hasina also had interactions with King Charles III during the Commonwealth Leaders\u2019 Event while she invited the King to visit Bangladesh and the King replied positively.<\/p>\n
PM\u2019s Private Industry and Investment Adviser Salman Fazlur Rahman, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam, PM\u2019s Principal Secretary Md Tofazzel Hossain Miah, PM\u2019s Speechwriter M Nazrul Islam and Bangladesh High Commissioner to the UK Saida\u00a0 Muna Tasneem, among others, were present at the meeting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Staff correspondent : Minister Sheikh Hasina has said the Awami League (AL) government also wants free and fair elections in Bangladesh likewise the United Kingdom (UK) as its Foreign Minister James Cleverly along with his wife Susannah Sparks called on her here. \u201cWe also want fair elections. My party always maintains democracy in the country. We have given the country\u2019s democracy a strong footing,\u201d Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen quoted her as saying while briefing reporters after their meeting on Saturday (local time).The meeting was held at the bilateral<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1407,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"limit_modified_date":"","last_modified_date":"","rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bangladesh"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyenglishtimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyenglishtimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyenglishtimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyenglishtimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyenglishtimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1406"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyenglishtimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1406\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1408,"href":"https:\/\/dailyenglishtimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1406\/revisions\/1408"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyenglishtimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyenglishtimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyenglishtimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyenglishtimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}