Saifur finally to allocate fund for EC
Unb, Dhaka
In a complete "U-turn" to his earlier stand, Finance and Planning Minister M Saifur Rahman yesterday said he would allocate fresh fund for the Election Commission (EC) --whatever amount it will require for updating the voter list."Money has to be given to conduct the election ... allocation is also available in the budget for the purpose," he told a group of journalists at Zia International Airport on his return from Iran in the morning. On July 18, Saifur refused to allocate fresh fund for updating the voter list when the EC officials met him. The finance minister had insisted on the accountability for spending of earlier fund before allocation of fresh fund. Referring to his earlier refusal to allocate fresh funds, he said he wanted to know what happened to the previous fund as the EC authorities had sought huge sum of money further. "We believe in democracy and without going to election, there will be no democracy. Money will be given to hold the next election," he said. He, however, said the spending of Tk 42 crore out of Tk 64 crore allocated in favour of the EC will be scrutinised by the comptroller and auditor general (CAG) in the light of the High Court verdict. The finance minister left Dhaka for Tehran on July 23 to attend the meeting of Bangladesh-Iran Joint Economic Commission held on July 24-25. Pointing to the outcome of the meeting, Saifur said Iran has agreed to export crude oil to Bangladesh on deferred payment for three months time. Bangladesh and Iran agreed to enhance collaboration in all designated sectors of cooperation, including trade, investment, fisheries, railways, information technology and tourism, the minister said. "We have signed Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) which will help increase the bilateral trade," he said, adding that the bilateral trade between the two countries is now US$ 70 million. He said the volume of trade is very little although it remains overwhelmingly in favour of Bangladesh. He hoped that the PTA would help grow the bilateral trade to US$ 200 million. The finance minister said Iran has shown its keen interest to extend its technical support for power, petroleum, construction and pharmaceuticals sectors. Iran also offered BMRE of the Eastern Oil Refinery in Chittagong and would like to set up another oil refinery plant in Bangladesh, he said. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed to encourage cooperation in the field of tourism between Bangladesh and Iran.
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