Bangladesh's politics of conflict is beyond comprehension, visiting German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said as he met the members of civil society to get first-hand information on the state of governance in the country.
He arrived on Saturday morning on a two-day maiden visit to Bangladesh.
Westerwelle's visit comes at a time when the ruling Awami League and opposition BNP have locked horns over which government would oversee the next general elections.
The visit marked 40 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
"Why this conflict?" he was quoted to have asked by Dr Iftekharuzzaman, Executive Director of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB), after the meeting.
Iftekharuzzaman told bdnews24.com that the minister said: "We don't understand why this conflict! We have competitive relations with the oppositions in Europe, but here (in Bangladesh) it is different."
"We told him that here political conflict is mainly personality based. Politics and businesses are linked. So politics works as a tool to make money," he said.
Dr Muhammad Ibrahim, Executive Director of Centre for Mass Education in Science and younger brother of Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus, and D Rozario of Christian charity Caritas joined Iftekharuzzaman during the meeting.
Iftekharuzzaman said governance in the country and the work of civil society dominated their 30-min talks.
They told the minister that the problem centering the caretaker government issue would be resolved at one stage.
Iftekharuzzaman said, "We told him (Westerwelle) the political parties would agree each other at one stage and the elections would be held with the participation of all."
The German minister also wanted to know whether civil society and media were facing challenges to carry out their jobs.
"We told him as civil society and media criticise government's activities, they fo face challenges."
Iftekharuzzaman said they also told the minister that Bangladesh had all the institutions to practise democratic governance. "We have all hardware, but we don't have software," he said referring to the politics of conflict and corruption in the country.
When asked, the TIB Executive Director said they did not discuss the issue of Grameen Bank and Dr Yunus.
"We even did not even utter the name of Grameen Bank and Muhammad Yunus during the talks," he said.
After his arrival, the German minister at a joint press conference with his counterpart Dipu Moni said he wanted to have first-hand information about the political situation in Bangladesh.
"I am not here to give any lessons," he had said.
The minister, however, urged political actors to work together to strengthen democracy, human rights situation and establish the rule of law.
Like US State of Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton, he also expressed concern about the recent killing of a garment sector trade union activist Aminul Islam and the disappearance of BNP leader M Ilias Ali.
Germany was the biggest trading partner of Bangladesh in Euro zone with a volume of over $4 billion in the last fiscal, while over the last 40 years, Berlin has provided over Euro 2 billion as development assistance to Dhaka.
He arrived on Saturday morning on a two-day maiden visit to Bangladesh.
Westerwelle's visit comes at a time when the ruling Awami League and opposition BNP have locked horns over which government would oversee the next general elections.
The visit marked 40 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
"Why this conflict?" he was quoted to have asked by Dr Iftekharuzzaman, Executive Director of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB), after the meeting.
Iftekharuzzaman told bdnews24.com that the minister said: "We don't understand why this conflict! We have competitive relations with the oppositions in Europe, but here (in Bangladesh) it is different."
"We told him that here political conflict is mainly personality based. Politics and businesses are linked. So politics works as a tool to make money," he said.
Dr Muhammad Ibrahim, Executive Director of Centre for Mass Education in Science and younger brother of Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus, and D Rozario of Christian charity Caritas joined Iftekharuzzaman during the meeting.
Iftekharuzzaman said governance in the country and the work of civil society dominated their 30-min talks.
They told the minister that the problem centering the caretaker government issue would be resolved at one stage.
Iftekharuzzaman said, "We told him (Westerwelle) the political parties would agree each other at one stage and the elections would be held with the participation of all."
The German minister also wanted to know whether civil society and media were facing challenges to carry out their jobs.
"We told him as civil society and media criticise government's activities, they fo face challenges."
Iftekharuzzaman said they also told the minister that Bangladesh had all the institutions to practise democratic governance. "We have all hardware, but we don't have software," he said referring to the politics of conflict and corruption in the country.
When asked, the TIB Executive Director said they did not discuss the issue of Grameen Bank and Dr Yunus.
"We even did not even utter the name of Grameen Bank and Muhammad Yunus during the talks," he said.
After his arrival, the German minister at a joint press conference with his counterpart Dipu Moni said he wanted to have first-hand information about the political situation in Bangladesh.
"I am not here to give any lessons," he had said.
The minister, however, urged political actors to work together to strengthen democracy, human rights situation and establish the rule of law.
Like US State of Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton, he also expressed concern about the recent killing of a garment sector trade union activist Aminul Islam and the disappearance of BNP leader M Ilias Ali.
Germany was the biggest trading partner of Bangladesh in Euro zone with a volume of over $4 billion in the last fiscal, while over the last 40 years, Berlin has provided over Euro 2 billion as development assistance to Dhaka.
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