Involve opposition party in building inclusive democracy

June 27, 2009

The US government is working with Bangladesh to strengthen institutions that deter violent extremism and has encouraged Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to engage with the opposition and include them in the decision-making process.

This was stated by US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Bureau Robert O Blake while making a statement before the Foreign Affairs Committee of US House of Representatives on Thursday.

In his remarks for the record, Blake said last December, on the heels of a two-year state of emergency under a caretaker government, Bangladesh held the fairest and most transparent election in its history.

In many ways, he said, this moderate Muslim nation of 150 million people deserves US support as the people and government of Bangladesh are firmly committed to building an inclusive democracy, the economy has grown by more than five percent every year since the early 1990s and extremism finds little popular support.

“This promising backdrop makes it important for the United States to engage Bangladesh as it confronts daunting challenges, including chronic political partisanship, widespread poverty, civil-military tensions, porous borders and corruption,” the assistant secretary added.

“We are working with Bangladesh to strengthen institutions that deter violent extremism, and have encouraged Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to engage with the opposition and include them in the decision-making process.”

“There are many pockets of excellence and positive momentum in Bangladesh that we hope to assist, including women’s literacy and employment programmes”, he further said.

Involve opposition party in building inclusive democracy

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