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Khaleda cancels meeting with French Minister

By Haroon Habib

DHAKA April 28. The Bangladesh Prime Minister, Begum Khaleda Zia, on Monday abruptly cancelled her scheduled meeting with the visiting French Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Renaud Muselier. Mr. Muselier told mediapersons, "I was scheduled to meet the Prime Minister, but she cancelled the meeting. You've to ask the Prime Minister why the meeting was cancelled.''

There was no explanation from the Government about the abrupt cancellation of the scheduled meeting. But a number of vernacular dailies said her decision was prompted by intervention from the United States authorities here.

Following the cancellation of the meeting, the French Minister opted not to hold talks with the leader of the Opposition, Sheikh Hasina. "I prefer to maintain a balance. It does not look good. Since I could not see the Prime Minister, I'm not meeting the Opposition leader,'' he explained. However, Mr. Muselier met the Speaker of Parliament and some members of the Opposition.

Addressing the press prior to his departure, Mr. Muselier attached importance to his Bangladesh visit. "This is the first ministerial-level visit to Bangladesh from France in the last 12 years, undertaken at the request of (French) President (Jacques) Chirac.'' Mr. Muselier, who arrived on Saturday on a three-day visit had separate meetings with the Foreign Minister, Morshed Khan, and the Commerce Minister, Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury. "We shared common views on international issues including the current Iraq situation," he said.

Mr. Muselier said he held talks on social and human development issues and hoped more French companies would invest in Bangladesh. He said that French-Bangladesh trade balance was heavily in favour of Bangladesh. The French Minister also assured Dhaka of resumption of development assistance to Bangladesh, suspended in 1998. Mr. Muselier replied a flurry of questions on France's strong opposition to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and the future of Europe. He said plans were underway to work out a common European defence policy and have a president and foreign minister for Europe. He said his country's stand on Iraq remained unchanged.

"We've to say what we think. We're for a multi-polar world." About Anglo-French ties, he said the U.S. was one of the "oldest friends" adding, its Statue of Liberty was a present from France.

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