Commentary: The whole visit of the French President and the business deal looks suspicious
Editorial Desk :
The French President, Emmanuel Macron, has made a short visit to Bangladesh after attending the G20 summit in New Delhi, India. This was the first visit by a French President to Bangladesh in over three decades.
The Bangladesh trip came after a series of short trips by Macron this year to Asian countries such as Mongolia, Papua New Guinea and Sri Lanka.
The previous visit to Bangladesh was made by the former French President Mitterrand from February 22 to 24 in 1990.
During bilateral talks, the French President Macron focused on his country’s alternative Asia-Pacific strategy and ways to counterbalance a “new imperialism” in a region where several superpowers are jostling for influence.
However, Macron refrained from commenting on Bangladesh’s poor human rights record.
But several Western powers have widely criticised Bangladesh for its poor democracy and human rights record.
Meanwhile, rights groups have accused the government of using law enforcement agencies and the judiciary to silence opposition members since the incumbent government came to power 14 years ago.
Hundreds of people have become victims of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances under the tenure of this government.
Many opposition leaders, civil society members, and human rights defenders have faced politically motivated lawsuits that force them to spend most of their time in courtrooms or jail.
Despite concerns from these rights groups, Macron refrained from publicly commenting on Bangladesh’s poor democracy and human rights records during his visit to the country.
He focused more on business opportunities his country negotiated with the South Asian nation in recent years.
Dhaka and Paris discussed a “commitment” from Bangladesh’s national airline to purchase 10 A350s from the plane maker Airbus, headquartered in France, a contract that could be worth as much
as $3.2 billion. National flag carrier Biman had previously always bought aircraft from the US manufacturer Boeing.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh’s main opposition party BNP’s Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has alleged that the government is procuring 10 Airbus aircraft from France only for obtaining commission.
“The government’s main target is to get kickbacks from this Airbus deal.
It means a certain amount of commission from the procurement.”
The people are having very hard days because of the dengue outbreak and skyrocketing of daily essentials across the country.
Meanwhile, an expert at the Hamburg-based GIGA Institute for Asian studies, said that the timing of the French president’s visit, which is just a few months before Bangladesh’s national elections, is “unfortunate” because it can be viewed “as a signal that France is ready to prioritise geo-strategic and economic interests over democracy and human rights.”
Although this is a bilateral visit, we think the position taken by France might even be viewed as representing the position of the entire European Union as a whole.
The Western world, particularly the United States, are exerting pressure on the Bangladesh government to hold a free, fair and credible election likely to be held in January next year.
To them, the national elections in 2014 and 2018 were not free and fair.