October 23, 1997

Statement by H.E. Ambassador Anwarul Karim Chowdhury, Permanent Representative of Bangladesh

[...] Mr.Chairman,

We extend our thanks to the government of Italy for offering to host the Diplomatic Conference in June 1998. Bangladesh expresses, on behalf of the 48 Least Developed Countries, the gratitude to the governments for their generous contribution to the Trust Fund facilitating the participation of LDCs. We thank the Netherlands delegation which, speaking on behalf of the European Union, has encouraged other countries to join in the effort to contribute to the Fund other countries to join in the effort to contribute to the Fund.

Bangladesh recognizes the extremely important role played by the NGOs and the members of the civil society in the process toward establishment of ICC, and we encourage their active involvement in the process.

Mr. Chairman,

The International Criminal Court will possibly be a great milestone of this century. Let us all show our flexibility and creativity so that we achieve something that is workable and worthwhile for the twenty-first century. The experience of the two existing ad hoc Tribunals provide extremely useful pointers; political as well as procedural. We are confident the road to Rome will be made easier by the lessons learnt from them.

I thank you Mr. Chairman.