Norway wants amicable remedy to GP’s issues
Norway wants an instant and amicable solution to the issues the country's leading mobile operator Grameenphone is facing in running its functions, said a high diplomat from the Nordic country.
"We've some concerns over the matters related to Grameenphone. We reviewed those. We decided to find a satisfactory remedy," said Norwegian Overseas Ministry Secretary Basic Tore Hattrem following the second political discussion at the state guest home Padma in Dhaka yesterday.
This past year, an audit by the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) into Grameenphone's books from its inception in 1997 until 2014 discovered that the carrier owed Tk 12,579.96 crore to the commission in income share, taxes and past due fees. The BTRC in that case directed Grameenphone to pay the amount.
The telecom operator then visited the court. Sooner or later, the Supreme Court purchased the operator to pay out Tk 2,000 crore to the BTRC. On February 23, Grameenphone paid out Tk 1,000 crore.
Previously, the operator said it wanted court protection because of the pressure the BTRC has applied on it and its own management. The commission's activities included declining no-objection certificates since July last year, issuing show-cause notice for licence cancellation and denying recycling of quantity series, it said.
Both sides took note of Bangladesh Supreme Court's recent order upon this issue, said Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen, who led the Bangladesh side at the consultation.
"Norway sought the entire court verdict, therefore the government will contact the attorney general in this respect."
The Norwegian government includes a substantial share in Telenor, and if the Grameenphone issue is settled quickly, the united states can make more investment in Bangladesh.
"We wish the legal procedures to be settled quickly," Momen added.
Telenor owns 55.8 % share in the country's leading mobile phone operator.
Momen appreciated Norway for extending duty-totally free and quota-free access to Bangladeshi products under the Norwegian generalised program of tastes (GSP) since July 2002 and requested continuation of the preferential trade treatment even immediately after Bangladesh's graduation from the least-developed country bracket in 2024.
Both sides agreed to work on cooperation in neuro-scientific skill development in view of Bangladesh's graduation, rapid automation, among others, in the textile sector and disruptive technologies.
Bangladesh requested for continuing and intensified support of Norway to make sure secure, dignified and sustainable go back of the forcibly displaced Rohingyas.
Secretary General Hattrem reiterated Norway's support for the Annan Commission's advice and the International Courtroom of Justice's provisional steps and needed their complete implementation by Myanmar.
Norway, which happens to be running for a non-permanent seat in the UN Reliability Council, vowed to intensify its efforts at the UN to solve the crisis, if elected, he said.
Two sides decided to carry two milestone events of Bangladesh, namely the 100th birth anniversary of Dad of the country Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the 50th anniversary of the glorious Independence of Bangladesh in Oslo, Norway early subsequent year.
