A German parliamentary delegation led by Bundestag member Niklas Kappes paid a courtesy call on Bangladesh Parliament Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmed Bir Bikram at his office on Thursday.

The delegation included Bundestag members Gerold Otten, Johann Saathoff and Uhle Schaus, while German Ambassador to Bangladesh Dr Rüdiger Lotz also attended the meeting.

The Speaker said Bangladesh and Germany have maintained longstanding friendly relations, noting that the German government had extended support to Bangladesh since the country’s independence.

He said Germany is the second-largest destination for Bangladesh’s exports in the European market.

Hafiz Uddin said elections had been held in Bangladesh since 1937, but the country had lagged behind in terms of democracy.

He said Bangladesh achieved victory in the 1971 Liberation War in its struggle to establish democratic rights, but the people’s aspirations for democracy remained unfulfilled.

The Speaker alleged that the Awami League government had undermined democracy and people’s voting rights through three consecutive “farcical” elections.

He said a mass uprising led by students and people took place against enforced disappearances, killings, extrajudicial killings and “farcical” elections during the authoritarian rule.

Against this backdrop, he said, democracy had been restored through an acceptable and neutral election.

The Speaker said Begum Khaleda Zia was Bangladesh’s first elected woman prime minister and that her contributions to the political and economic empowerment of women in the country could serve as an example.

He said the people of Bangladesh, who value democracy, had repeatedly made sacrifices for it and that democracy had been restored through their strong determination and struggle.

The Speaker also briefed the delegation on women’s representation in the current parliament, saying six women MPs had been elected directly by voters while 50 women MPs had been elected to reserved seats. He said all of them were highly educated and established in their respective fields.

During the meeting, the delegation and the Speaker discussed expanding parliamentary diplomacy through the formation of a Bangladesh-Germany parliamentary friendship group and the ongoing Rohingya crisis in Bangladesh.

The Speaker said the government was working to improve freedom of expression and the human rights situation in Bangladesh to international standards.

Representatives of the German Embassy and officials concerned from the Bangladesh Parliament Secretariat were present at the meeting.