She finds Rana Plaza collapse, Khaleda, Dr Yunus behind GSP suspension
Brushing aside the media reports on her frequent foreign tours as false, fabricated, baseless and motivated, Dr Dipu Moni on Sunday said an orchestrated campaign is on against the Foreign Minister of Bangladesh.
“It seems an anti-Foreign Minister orchestrated campaign is being carried out in both Bangla and English dailies. There’s no doubt that the report (Daily Manabzamin) is untrue, fabricated, baseless and motivated,” an irked Foreign Minister told reporters at a press conference at her ministry.
Dipu Moni also questioned the news judgment of the reporters concerned and authorities of the media outlets as she was given wider front-page coverage with big photos while the Prime Minister and opposition leader and others’ news got less important coverage on the back page.
Providing data on her total number of visits, including bilateral, multilateral and regional ones that differ from the newspaper reports, she said those involved in preparing reports lack proper mathematical knowledge, too.
Defending her visits, Dipu Moni said the successes that came for the country had been possible due to Bangladesh’s active engagement in global forums and with various countries. “Where there’s success, there might be some criticism out of jealousy. But the reports should be objective.”
The Foreign Minister said she has so far taken 114 foreign tours though newspaper reports say she had been on tours for 180-190 times. “Meanwhile, I stayed abroad for 517 days, including my travel times, but the newspapers reported that it was 600 days. Over 50 days have been spent on attending UN programmes.”
She also said there were 36 VVIP visits, 62 bilateral tours, but not 17, and there were tour for seven times to attend UN programmes and eight times for multilateral programmes.
Justifying her longer travel times compared to the US Foreign Minister, Dipu Moni said, “Since the report compares me with the US Foreign Minister, I must clarify. The US Foreign Minister uses a special jet for traveling from one capital to another. But I need to take two-three flights some times to reach a particular destination. So, my travel time will sure be longer than him.”
The Foreign Minister also said the report of the daily (Daily Manabzamin) will be a thing of preserve for the future generation.
Responding to a question, the Foreign Minister said the newspaper did not publish her rejoinder properly. “As a citizen of the country, I’ll take necessary steps against it.”
On GSP issue, the Foreign Minister said the government has been engaged actively with all the stakeholders to improve the working environment and labour standards in the country to have GSP benefits restored in the US market.
She linked three reasons behind the GSP suspension — Rana Plaza collapse, opposition leader Khaleda Zia’s campaign and her article, and Dr Yunus’ remarks in various forums. “You (journalists) can find out whether more reasons are there.”
The Foreign Minister said Dr Yunus was not seen talking about labour issues in the past. “His recent remarks in various forums might have had an influence on taking such a negative decision by the US government.”
The Foreign Minister said she does not think that the GSP suspension is a government’s failure. “Still, we’ve a very good relation with the USA.”
On Ticfa, Teesta and LBA, Dipu Moni said she is still hopeful of signing those deals. “We don’t think at all that it’s our failure. We have brought Teesta and LAB issues at the final stage. BNP and JP did never take any initiative in this regard.”
Dipu said she would be visiting India for three days from July 25 and she will have meetings with Indian leaders, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. “My meeting with the Indian Prime Minister has been confirmed. I’ll discuss the matter again there.”
Asked about Anup Chetia’s deportation, she said, “I don’t have any information regarding the matter.”
About bringing back BNP senior vice chairman Tarique Rahman, she said they had sent a letter to the UK authorities, and the government is awaiting a reply.
Labour and Employment secretary Mikail Shipar, Commerce secretary Mahbub Ahmed, Additional Foreign secretary Mustafa Kamal, Foreign Ministry DG (EM) M Shameem Ahsan were also present.
Source: UNB Connect
