<div style="text-align: justify; "><b style="font-size: 1rem;">Members of the Election Exploratory Mission (ExM) from the European Union (EU) spent a busy day Sunday as they began their activities in Bangladesh to assess the situation on the ground ahead of the country's upcoming national election.</b><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Delegation leader Chelleri Riccardo and his team members held a number of meetings with diplomats stationed in Dhaka.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Diplomats from the United States, UK, Japan, South Korea and European countries took part in discussions.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The visiting delegation also had a meeting with UN Resident Coordinator Gwyn Lewis, said a diplomatic source.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The meetings took place in a number of places including the residence of the EU Ambassador to Bangladesh Charles Whiteley.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">However, there were no comments from diplomats regarding the meetings.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Riccardo has vast professional experience in the electoral field, covering observation, supervision and technical assistance to electoral processes.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The delegation will be visiting Bangladesh till July 23 to assess the situation on the ground ahead of the country's upcoming national election.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The task of this mission will be to assess the scope, planning, budget, logistics and security of the main election observation mission, Mohammad Rafiqul Alam, Director General (Additional Charge) of Public Diplomacy Wing at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told reporters at the weekly briefing on Thursday.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The EU delegation in Dhaka said it is willing to meet with government representatives, election-related authorities, representatives of the international community, officials of various law enforcement agencies, political leaders, civil society and media representatives during the investigation mission's stay in Bangladesh.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Based on the information received from the fact-finding mission, the European Union will take a final decision on sending a full-fledged Election Observation Mission (EOM) before the next national elections.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The main objective of the ExM is to assess the "advisability, usefulness and feasibility" of a possible EU Election Observation Mission (EOM) for the upcoming parliamentary elections, according to the EU Mission in Dhaka. UNB</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>