Ambassador and Head of Delegation of the European Union (EU) to Bangladesh, Charles Whiteley, on Wednesday (January 17, 2024) said they are going to start negotiations on the Partnership Cooperation Agreement very soon which he sees as a new generation agreement involving wide-ranging issues. Ferry driver missing after it capsizes with vehicles in Padma River “We had a very fruitful and dynamic discussion,” he told reporters after his meeting with Foreign Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud at his office at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Ambassador Whiteley said they discussed ways to take the Bangladesh-EU partnership forward. ADB President to PM Hasina: 'Under your leadership in last 15 years, Bangladesh made extraordinary progress in all areas of development'

Members of the Election Exploratory Mission (ExM) from European Union (EU) had a meeting with the Election Commission (EC) today (July 11, 2023), and wanted to know about its preparations for holding the next election "fairly and peacefully." The EC discussed its preparations with the visiting EU delegation. Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal, EU delegation leader Chelleri Riccardo, and EU Ambassador to Bangladesh Charles Whitely, among others, were present at the meeting. EC proved its ‘impartiality, capability through fair polls’ in 5 recent city elections: Monitoring Forum tells EU delegates A technical team of the mission will further discuss the relevant issues with the EC on July 18,19. EU delegation leader Riccardo said they are in Dhaka to assess the pre-electoral conditions in order to prepare an analysis for the EU High Representative which will then decide whether or not a full election observation mission will be deployed in Bangladesh. EU encourages ‘peaceful, fair, participatory’ election in Bangladesh: Ambassador Whiteley The CEC did not make any comment, saying his views are aligned with that of the EU delegation leader. Riccardo did not take any questions from the media. The EU mission will stay in Bangladesh till July 23. The main objective of the Election Exploratory Mission is to assess the “advisability, usefulness and feasibility” of a possible EU Election Observation Mission for the upcoming parliamentary election, according to the EU Mission in Dhaka. AL prefers dictatorship, feudalism, not democracy: Fakhrul

The European Union (EU) has transferred EUR 2 million (around Tk 20 crore) to the government of Bangladesh to strengthen key areas of its social security system. It has a specific focus on strengthening institutional set-up, the overall Monitoring and Evaluation Framework of the social security services, introduction of a nutrition sensitive child benefit programme and having an improved social security framework for workers.  EU Ambassador to Bangladesh Charles Whiteley said “We encourage the government to ensure an appropriate social protection system and measures that protect those who are in need.” Beyond the immediate Covid-19 response initiated by Team Europe, he said, this programme represents a concrete first step towards the longer-term objective to establish an adequate and sustainable social security system.  “The EU and its Member States are committed to support efforts to establish adequate and sustainable social security for workers, with the shared objectives to protect lives and livelihoods,” said the EU member. Read: EU wants full implementation of labor roadmap for trade facility The disbursement of this payment comes after a “positive decision” of the Budget Support Steering Committee (SSC) of the European Commission's Directorate-General for International Cooperation and Development in July 2022, said the EU Embassy in Dhaka on Thursday.   The European Consensus for Development enshrines the commitment from both the EU and its Member States to promote “adequate and sustainable social protection”.  With the proactive political commitment of the government of Bangladesh (GoB) to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in order to ‘leave no-one behind’, the EU has been a committed development and humanitarian partner to Bangladesh since 1973.  The EU supports the Government of Bangladesh to implement its national social security reform agenda with the ultimate aim to streamline social protection services and to reach out to vulnerable communities, with a special emphasis on the Child Benefit Programme and workers at risk in the export-oriented sector and as such to contribute to Bangladesh’s overall development goals.  A EUR 247 million budget support programme is in place since 2019 to support the reform activities of the NSSS. Budget support is a means of delivering effective aid and durable results for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  Budget support is directly linked to reforms and developmental results. This ensures development of effective systems to collect information on results, to monitor progress, and evaluate impact, based on which the sectoral reform process in funded.  It also aims to strengthen the capacity of the partner country in the implementation of the policy and public finance systems, also in improving the accountability of the government towards its citizens.