Washington: The United States urged the Bangladesh government today to stage "free, fair and transparent elections" this year as promised.

Fakhruddin Ahmed, head of the military-backed nonparty interim government that has headed Bangladesh since January 2007,reaffirmed the commitment in a joint statement issued today with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey said.

"The United States urges the Bangladesh government to uphold its commitment to hold free, fair and transparent elections by December 2008," as the commitment renewed in the joint statement promised, Casey said.

"While the government s progress on updating the voter list and combating corruption is encouraging, we urge the government to move forward on its dialogue with political parties and to remove restrictions on freedoms of assembly and the press," Casey said. "Political parties must be able to participate fully in a democratic process."

Source : PTI