DHAKA, 18 July 2004 — Bangladesh said it backed UN reform yesterday but was noncommittal about Germany’s desire to take a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
“Bangladesh is a very willing partner for any reform program that will benefit the whole world,” Foreign Minister Morshed Khan said after talks with his German counterpart Joschka Fischer.
Asked about the permanent seat for Germany he said: “We have to review the whole system but we don’t know under what criteria the reform would take place; I am sure that Germany will find its right place.”
Fischer, who also met Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, is on a five-country tour of Asia covering China, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh, to promote Berlin’s bid for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
Fischer added: “We hope that if there is reform of the UN Security Council that we will get the support of our friends, what we need is an efficient multilateral system.”
He also stressed Bangladesh’s role in the international war on terrorism.
As the world’s third largest Muslim-majority nation and a democracy with a strong civil society, Bangladesh was a key country in the fight, he said.
But he said it was important that the level of good governance be increased and stressed the importance of the fight against corruption.
Fischer offered emergency aid and expressed his condolences to those affected by flooding that has submerged large parts of Bangladesh leaving at least 81 people dead or missing, presumed dead.
He also said he had been “shocked” by Friday’s school fire in southern India in which 90 children died.
“We grieve with the families of the Indian nation,” he said.
Earlier, China said it backed a larger role for Germany at the United Nations, while India and Germany agreed to support each other’s bids for permanent seats.
For new countries to be taken onto the UN Security Council the support of two thirds of the UN’s more than 190 countries would be required.Fischer, who arrived in Bangladesh early yesterday was due to leave for Sri Lanka later.
Biman Probe Detects Huge Cargo Graft in United Arab Emirates
Investigators of Bangladesh’s national airlines have found “massive irregularities” in cargo operations of Biman in Dubai, Sharjah and Ajman that deprived it of millions of taka in revenue.
A high-powered probe team dispatched to Dubai recently has unearthed involvement of a section of Biman officials and a freight operator run by a non-resident Indian in shipping cargoes far more than the recorded volume, forging airway documents.
Freight operator Darwish Murad Clearing and Shipping Services forged bills and shipped excess cargo to Dubai in each consignment, sometimes up to six tons, according to team leader M. Shahab Ullah.
Biman carries about 80 tons of cargo to Dubai a month, about 80 percent of it handled by Darwish Murad.
“Some Biman officials have been extending special privileges to Darwish Murad run by E.K. Hamza, a non-resident Indian, in exchange for money and other favors,” said Shahab, who is joint secretary at the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism.
