Mr President, I am very pleased to be able to speak in this debate on European Union cooperation with Bangladesh, a country I know well, a country I was proud to visit with the European Parliament's delegation in the autumn of 1998. There are, of course, a great number of people with Bengali roots settled in London and other parts of the European Union, people originally from Dhaka, Sylhet and other parts of Bangladesh. I know from them and from my visit that Bangladesh is a country of proud, hard-working people and a country with great prospects, but one which does need assistance from the more wealthy and developed parts of the world like the European Union. This report helps provide that support and should be commended, and accordingly I pay warm tribute to the rapporteur and my other colleague. But the rapporteur said something which struck me, as did Mrs Maes. The rapporteur said that state structures in Bangladesh work badly and Mrs Maes derided some of the advances that Bangladesh has made in recent years. Yet in many ways I think that Bangladesh is amazing for the way that it does work. It does work despite its turbulent and violent history, despite the political problems, despite its other difficulties and despite the poverty. It does function and, as the Commissioner has just said, that is amazing considering all the difficulties. I believe that this is fundamentally a credit to the people and indeed to the Government of Bangladesh. Now on the positive side – and some of you from other countries may not be aware of this – Bangladesh has lately been admitted as a full test cricket playing nation. Perhaps more significantly, reserves of natural gas have now been discovered in the Bay of Bengal. The European Parliament has to help ensure that Bangladesh is not exploited by the big multinational companies, that it is able to use its reserves properly and to sell them at the most competitive price, which may not mean just to India or to Russia. The cricket aspect may seem irrelevant but it does show a determination to succeed and Bangladesh will do well in this field of test cricket and this will be an inspiration to millions of people in that country. The report makes it clear that if the European Union works in partnership with local people it can help on big issues. It can help with family planning, the key to stability for Bangladesh. A poor or developing country cannot sustain a birth rate above two children per woman. The idea that a large family is automatically the route out of poverty must be eradicated and women, all women, must be able to choose whether or not to have children. European companies must also make certain that they do not exploit the cheap labour and do not continually perpetuate the working environment in factories, where the women suffer and work very long hours for very little money. Furthermore the European Union has the expertise to help with other problems in Bangladesh – the flooding that we have heard about, that destroys great swathes of the land on a regular basis is not inevitable. Europe has the know-how to prevent the deforestation. We have the knowledge and experience, for example in the Netherlands, to help improve low-lying land and land susceptible to flooding. We, as a European Union, already help Bangladesh with grants, with least-developed country status, and with the preferential access to markets that this brings with it. But we can, I believe, and we must do more. The future of Bangladesh also depends on its youth. To my mind too many of the young people in Bangladesh leave to be educated abroad in Europe and the United States, which I commend, which is good; but then many of them do not go back to Bangladesh to take back their education, their experience and their great strength. We must encourage them to do so. I will end as I began, by saying that Bangladesh is a country with a future. Just as the last part of the twentieth century belonged to the countries of south-east Asia, the Tiger economies, I believe that the first part of this century can belong to the countries of south Asia. With help from this Parliament, Bangladesh can share in that sense of belonging, in the wealth, the prosperity and ultimately the success that will bring.

Political group: PSE