"The stable macroeconomic situation is an outcome of a mixture of prudent monetary and fiscal policies that are being pursued," said the finance minister in a policy dialogue in Brussels, Belgium on Monday, according to a message received here yesterday.

Bangladesh Embassy in Brussels, which is concurrently accredited to European Communities, organised the dialogue -- Bangladesh: Options and Opportunities on the State of Bangladesh's Relations with the EU and Future Prospects.

Syed Maudud Ali, ambassador and permanent representative of Bangladesh to the European Communities, moderated the policy dialogue. Key functionaries from the European Commission, European think tanks and other stakeholders participated in the dialogue.

Intensive discussion took place in the dialogue on policy issues concerning bilateral development cooperation and trade, including good governance, public sector reforms, civil order, justice and human rights.

The finance minister said low external current account deficit reflects the continued high growth of exports, increased flows of remittances, moderate growth in money supply as well as that of imports.

Presenting a vision of Bangladesh at the start of a new century that will lead the country to waves of change, the finance minister pointed out that Bangladesh was a developing democratic polity on the Westminster model, a predominantly Muslim country but neither a fundamentalist nor a theocracy. It has been exerting a moderate influence on a consistently volatile and often mutually hostile South Asia, he said.

Embassy sources said the minister's views were appreciated by the participants who agreed that with consistent support from the development partners, the country would prosper.

Putting emphasis on strengthening bilateral cooperation in newer fields, the participants were of the view that the country's progress needs to be assessed in proper perspective, particularly in view of propaganda campaigns against the country.

They agreed there was an urgent and critical need to improve Bangladesh state machinery for projecting and creating an awareness in the outside world about the tremendous progress made on micro and macro-economic factors and in areas of good governance.

The finance minister reached Brussels on Sunday on a three-day official mission to the EC and European Parliament to promote bilateral development as well as trade relations and to uphold the country's political image in Europe.

This is the first official interface between the Bangladesh government and 25-member new European Commission that took office in November 2004.

SAIFUR MEETS EUROPEAN TRADE COMMISSIONER

Saifur also held officials talks with Peter Mandelson, European Commissioner for Trade at the EC headquarters.

He thanked him for the commission's support for which Europe is now the biggest trade destination from Bangladesh with export standing at 4,301 million in 2004.

The minister drew attention to the difficult period of adjustment for Bangladesh in post-MFA period and hoped that the Generalised System of Preference (GSP) scheme would be continued and indeed the terms revised to allow Bangladesh to better utilise its opportunity.

Mandelson was keenly interested in the finance minister's portrayal of the difficulties and opportunities of Bangladesh.

He assured that Bangladesh's broader interest would be in his mind and while the EC formulates policy the European market would be kept open for Bangladesh.

Saifur flew to Brussels from Jeddah, where he signed a $60 million loan agreement with the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) for the submarine cable project to connect Bangladesh to the information superhighway.