Agency

Dhaka has sought greater access to the European market, the Bangladesh mission in Brussels said in a statement Friday.

Foreign affairs adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, now on a two-day trip to Brussels, made the request to the European Union when he met Benita Ferrero-Waldner, European external relations commissioner.

"Dr Iftekhar Chowdhury stressed greater market access for Bangladeshi manufactures in the European market," the statement said. ''Bangladesh wishes to move out of dependency on aid and concentrate on trade as a tool for development,'' the statement quoted the adviser as saying.

The adviser apprised Ferrero-Waldner of the reform initiatives being undertaken by the caretaker government for holding the next general elections by December.

Ferrero-Waldner assured him of the European Commission's ''fullest support'' to the activities, the statement said. Iftekhar also called on the president of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Pottering, and discussed Bangladesh's active role in the international scene, and agreed that bilateral cooperation would be ''mutually beneficial''.

Bangladesh ambassador to the European Union AHM Moniruzzaman and European Commission representative to Bangladesh Stephen Frowein were present at the meeting

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