The EU has suspended the partnership agreement negotiations due to the prevailing situation in Bangladesh
The European Union (EU) is suspending talks on a new Partnership and Cooperation Agreement with Bangladesh. The first round of talks was supposed to start next September. This information was informed by the EU on Wednesday. Reuters.
The EU criticized the killing of over 150 people in the conflict surrounding the quota reform movement. This step was taken by the alliance immediately after this. According to the report of the news agency, the main trading partner of Bangladesh is the EU. In 2023, 20.7 percent of Bangladesh’s trade was with the EU. The new cooperation agreement called for enhancing trade, economic and development relations between Bangladesh and the EU. Under Partnership and Cooperation Agreements, the European Union cooperates with a country in economic and various fields. In order to further expand and develop mutual relations between Bangladesh and the European Union, it was decided to start negotiations on the new EU-Bangladesh Partnership and Cooperation Agreement on October 25 last year. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen were present at the event held in Brussels. On that occasion, an agreement was signed between the European Investment Bank and the Government of Bangladesh to finance 400 million euros in renewable energy projects in the power sector of Bangladesh. This money is supposed to be used for achieving the goals of reducing the impact of climate change in Bangladesh and for environmentally sustainable transformation of the country’s power sector. Apart from this, an agreement worth 7 million euros was also signed for cooperation in five other areas. These five areas are education, beautification, eco-friendly construction industry, e-governance and prevention of gender-based violence.
The decision to suspend the first round of talks between the European Union and Bangladesh on a new Partnership and Cooperation Agreement comes as the EU’s response to the recent violence surrounding the quota movement.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell last week criticized the killings of law enforcement officials, mass arrests and damage to property in Bangladesh over “indiscriminate shootings” and “perpetrated” killings by “authorities”. The Bangladesh government, however, denied firing fresh bullets. EU foreign affairs spokeswoman Nabila Masrali told Reuters in an e-mail that in light of the current situation, the first round of talks on the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement planned for September has been postponed and no further date has yet been set.
Bangladesh, however, said the talks have been delayed until November due to a conflict with the schedule of the UN General Assembly session, which begins on September 10. Uttam Kumar Karmakar, additional secretary of the economic relations division of the Bangladesh finance ministry, said the delay was due to the UN General Assembly and was fixed before the recent violence. The EU did not immediately comment on Bangladesh’s response.
