UN envoy Oscar Fernández-Taranco confirmed the dialogue has started
and described it as a 'positive development' that has prompted him to
extend his stay in the country by a day.
“Both sides agreed to continue the dialogue in the spirit of good will, and compromise and to work constructively together to decrease tensions and build confidence," he later said in a statement.
Fernández-Taranco was earlier scheduled to leave Bangladesh on Tuesday.
“At the invitation of the United Nations Secretary General, representatives of both parties have met and engaged in a dialogue,” he said.
“I want to take the opportunity to applaud the decision to sit down and seize the opportunity," he added.
“This (meeting) shows political leadership, responsibility and courage, and it is also an answer to the expectation of people of Bangladesh,” he continued.
Fernández-Taranco, who held more than twenty meetings since his arrival at Dhaka on Friday, did not take any questions, promising to address media queries before leaving on Wednesday.
Two hours before his statement, the UNDP office in Dhaka had said Fernández-Taranco's news conference, earlier scheduled for Tuesday evening at Hotel Pan Pacific Sonargaon in the capital, had been postponed.
They said its location and time would be notified later when finalised.
The Prime Minister’s Office also said that the UN envoy’s meeting with her has been deferred by a day and would be held on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Fernández-Taranco was closeted in talks with top leaders of ruling and opposition parties at the Gulshan house of UN Resident Coordinator Neal Walker.
Awami League General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam, Advisory Council members Amir Hossain Amu and Tofail Ahmed and Prime Minister's International Affairs Advisor Gowher Rizvi made up the ruling party’s delegation.
The BNP team included the party’s acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, Standing Committee members Khandker Mosharraf Hossain and Abdul Moyeen Khan and Vice Chairman Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury.
The meeting at Walker's residence continued from 2:30pm to 4:30pm.
Hearing of the meeting, media persons crowded in front of the house of another UNDP official at Road-7 of Baridhara from midday to afternoon.
Rumours floated that Fernández-Taranco had entered the house where two major parties were holding discussions.
The car, Fernández-Taranco has been using for the past few days was also seen emerging from the building and speeding away around 3pm.
Two bdnews24.com correspondents were present there but they failed to see those in the vehicle because of its tinted glass.
But Fernández-Taranco turned up at Hotel Sonargaon soon after and offered his statement at 5:30pm. BNP also issued a statement, admitting of joining the dialogue.
The Awami League has gone ahead with the polls under supervision of a 'multi-party' interim government headed by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
The BNP and its allies have rejected Hasina's appeal to join the 'multi-party' cabinet and pressed on with relentless strikes and blockades to stall the Jan 5 parliament polls.
Amid the escalating political violence during the Opposition programmes, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon sends Fernández-Taranco to Bangladesh on 6 Dec on what was his second visit to the country this year.
He got started on a series of meetings lined up for him from Saturday morning to broker a deal between the two major parties at loggerheads over polls oversight.
The Argentine diplomat, with 25 years of UN experience in dealing “increasingly complex” situations, looks like he had broken the first jinx -- of getting the battling political alliance to start talking.
UN Resident Coordinator Walker in a statement before his arrival - his second visit in seven months - said Fernández-Taranco would “encourage dialogue and conditions conducive for parliamentary elections scheduled for 5 January 2014”.
The UN emissary met Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the Leader of the Opposition Khaleda Zia.
He also held separate meetings with the leaders of Awami League and BNP at least twice, before Tuesday’s meeting with leaders of both parties again.
Apart from his meetings with politicians and a section of the civil society, he also met diplomats in Dhaka, especially of the US, India, European countries and Russia.
These countries had repeatedly appealed for a rapprochement.
No one from the Awami League or the BNP had divulged to the press what had transpired in the meetings. But Syed Ashraf had said on Saturday - the first day of Fernández-Taranco's mission - that his party hoped the UN envoy’s visit would be ‘fruitful’.
Hasina's advisor Gowher Rizvi had told journalists after Fernández-Taranco's first meeting with him on Saturday that he would not discuss the caretaker government issue while trying to broker peace within the constitutional parameters.
The caretaker issue has been the bone of contention between the Awami League and the BNP, resulting in the current crisis.
After three hectic days in Dhaka, the UN envoy told mediapersons on Monday that a "peaceful solution" was still possible.
The same day, Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad also told reporters that ‘important talks’ were taking place, but he refused to make any comment.
“Both sides agreed to continue the dialogue in the spirit of good will, and compromise and to work constructively together to decrease tensions and build confidence," he later said in a statement.
Fernández-Taranco was earlier scheduled to leave Bangladesh on Tuesday.
“At the invitation of the United Nations Secretary General, representatives of both parties have met and engaged in a dialogue,” he said.
“I want to take the opportunity to applaud the decision to sit down and seize the opportunity," he added.
“This (meeting) shows political leadership, responsibility and courage, and it is also an answer to the expectation of people of Bangladesh,” he continued.
Fernández-Taranco, who held more than twenty meetings since his arrival at Dhaka on Friday, did not take any questions, promising to address media queries before leaving on Wednesday.
Two hours before his statement, the UNDP office in Dhaka had said Fernández-Taranco's news conference, earlier scheduled for Tuesday evening at Hotel Pan Pacific Sonargaon in the capital, had been postponed.
They said its location and time would be notified later when finalised.
The Prime Minister’s Office also said that the UN envoy’s meeting with her has been deferred by a day and would be held on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Fernández-Taranco was closeted in talks with top leaders of ruling and opposition parties at the Gulshan house of UN Resident Coordinator Neal Walker.
Awami League General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam, Advisory Council members Amir Hossain Amu and Tofail Ahmed and Prime Minister's International Affairs Advisor Gowher Rizvi made up the ruling party’s delegation.
The BNP team included the party’s acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, Standing Committee members Khandker Mosharraf Hossain and Abdul Moyeen Khan and Vice Chairman Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury.
The meeting at Walker's residence continued from 2:30pm to 4:30pm.
Hearing of the meeting, media persons crowded in front of the house of another UNDP official at Road-7 of Baridhara from midday to afternoon.
Rumours floated that Fernández-Taranco had entered the house where two major parties were holding discussions.
The car, Fernández-Taranco has been using for the past few days was also seen emerging from the building and speeding away around 3pm.
Two bdnews24.com correspondents were present there but they failed to see those in the vehicle because of its tinted glass.
But Fernández-Taranco turned up at Hotel Sonargaon soon after and offered his statement at 5:30pm. BNP also issued a statement, admitting of joining the dialogue.
The Awami League has gone ahead with the polls under supervision of a 'multi-party' interim government headed by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
The BNP and its allies have rejected Hasina's appeal to join the 'multi-party' cabinet and pressed on with relentless strikes and blockades to stall the Jan 5 parliament polls.
Amid the escalating political violence during the Opposition programmes, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon sends Fernández-Taranco to Bangladesh on 6 Dec on what was his second visit to the country this year.
He got started on a series of meetings lined up for him from Saturday morning to broker a deal between the two major parties at loggerheads over polls oversight.
The Argentine diplomat, with 25 years of UN experience in dealing “increasingly complex” situations, looks like he had broken the first jinx -- of getting the battling political alliance to start talking.
UN Resident Coordinator Walker in a statement before his arrival - his second visit in seven months - said Fernández-Taranco would “encourage dialogue and conditions conducive for parliamentary elections scheduled for 5 January 2014”.
The UN emissary met Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the Leader of the Opposition Khaleda Zia.
He also held separate meetings with the leaders of Awami League and BNP at least twice, before Tuesday’s meeting with leaders of both parties again.
Apart from his meetings with politicians and a section of the civil society, he also met diplomats in Dhaka, especially of the US, India, European countries and Russia.
These countries had repeatedly appealed for a rapprochement.
No one from the Awami League or the BNP had divulged to the press what had transpired in the meetings. But Syed Ashraf had said on Saturday - the first day of Fernández-Taranco's mission - that his party hoped the UN envoy’s visit would be ‘fruitful’.
Hasina's advisor Gowher Rizvi had told journalists after Fernández-Taranco's first meeting with him on Saturday that he would not discuss the caretaker government issue while trying to broker peace within the constitutional parameters.
The caretaker issue has been the bone of contention between the Awami League and the BNP, resulting in the current crisis.
After three hectic days in Dhaka, the UN envoy told mediapersons on Monday that a "peaceful solution" was still possible.
The same day, Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad also told reporters that ‘important talks’ were taking place, but he refused to make any comment.
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