UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon gave the assurance when Farooq Sobhan, special envoy of the chief adviser, called on him at UN headquarters on Friday.

Sobhan apprised the secretary general of various reform measures adopted by the caretaker government to hold the election before the end of 2008.

He also met a number of UN high officials including Lynn Pascoe, under secretary general, Department of Political Affairs, Vijay Nambiar, chef de cabinet of the secretary general, Hafiz Pasha, assistant administrator of the UNDP, Craig Jenness, director, UN Electoral Assistance Division, and Sergey Karev, deputy executive director of UN Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate.

During the meetings, the special envoy said the Bangladesh government will welcome UN support in recovery and repatriation of the money siphoned out of the country in the past.

He informed the UN officials that an excellent team of civilians is running the caretaker government, which is fully committed to good governance.

The envoy said this team is working very hard to hold the election at the earliest and the government has already started the process of rebuilding the key institutions, which were "undermined" by the previous governments.

Sobhan noted that the Election Commission is back on track and preparing a fresh voter list. Both the chief adviser and the chief election commissioner have announced that the elections will be held before the end of 2008, he said.

"Every effort will be made to hold the elections as soon as possible subject to the completion of the preparatory process," the envoy told the UN executives.

Sobhan mentioned that the Anti-Corruption Commission has become fully functional and truly independent while the separation of the judiciary from the executive is at final stage.

Besides, he said, the Public Service Commission has been overhauled and independence of the media ensured.

The special envoy also briefed the UN officials on the recent crackdown on corruption and said the government would welcome the world body's support for recovery and repatriation of money transferred abroad.

The UN officials put on record their gratitude to Bangladesh for her significant role in UN peacekeeping operation.