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Branding corruption as a "dangerous subject", a senior European Union diplomat Tuesday said Bangladesh must combat graft in order to get out of its vicious cycle of poverty.
"If you don't tackle it (corruption), you can't get out of poverty," Head of Delegation of the European Commission to Bangladesh Dr Stefan Frowein told a press briefing held at a city hotel.
"It's very damaging. Corruption is taking place when people are entrapped in the vicious cycle of poverty. And the poverty reduction strategy must look at the anti-graft programme," Frowein added.
In its latest report, the Berlin-based corruption watchdog, Transparency International (TI), has rated Bangladesh as the most corrupt nation in the world for five years in a row.
"It's not a good reputation for Bangladesh. Because investment may slowdown or even be missing because of it," the EC Ambassador, who arrived here last month to take up his new assignment, told newsmen, referring to the TI's corruption perception index.
Graft hampers the inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI), he added.
Referring to the establishment of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), the EC Ambassador said that it is still difficult to judge the performance of the newly-established graft-fighting body.
In the crowded press meet, the Delegation chief had to answer a volley of questions-ranging from politics to next polls, from governance to corruption to foreign aid.
However, the issue of the recent postponement of the Tuesday Group's planned conference on the international best electoral practices in Dhaka centred round the press meeting.
Calling the Group an informal gathering of "Bangladesh's friends", the senior EU diplomat said it exchanged views on many issue, including the political situation of the country.
Explaining the objective of the conference, the envoy said that it would discuss how the donors could continue to support Bangladesh in holding the free and fair elections. "Such type of conference was also held in Pakistan".
He acknowledged that the government's refusal to allow the diplomat's club to hold the conference led to its postponement.
He insisted that the European Commission is committed to supporting the process of holding the next general election of Bangladesh in a free and fair way.
He also favoured the election observation practices as did in the last elections.
But he expressed the hope that the Group may hold such a conference "in another way" later. He would not elaborate.
"We're respectful to the government. We accepted it," Frowein said, brushing aside the notion that the postponement of the planned meet had strained relations between the government and the diplomats stationed here.
In reply to another question, the EC chief said Bangladesh is a democratic country and three general elections were held amid free and fair atmosphere.
Bangladesh's total aid from the EC hovers between 500 million euros to 600 million euros, making it the second largest recipient in Asia.
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