Tofail slates US Congressmen for RMG letter

Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed has accused six US Congressmen of “unnecessarily interfering” in Bangladesh’s internal matter.

He slammed them for writing a letter to the government recently alleging that RMG factories were abusing labour rights.

The minister said Bangladesh would soon respond to the letter.

One letter would also be sent to US trade representative Michael Froman, he said.

Tofail disclosed the steps government was contemplating to the journalists after a meeting with US Ambassador Dan Mozena at his office.

He said, “Five of the six Congressmen have never seen any of Bangladesh’s factories. The tone of the letter turns out to be political. It is not in conformity to ground reality. I think someone approached them to write the letter.

"We are inviting them to visit our country, our RMG factories. Froman is the key figure here. He deals with Bangladesh’s trade related issues there.

"He is likely to visit the sub-continent. We will send him a letter to visit our country. When he will arrive here, we along with him will visit some factories.”

Tofail also said, “Now no country can avail GSP facility. If Congress restores the GSP, then it will re-evaluate Bangaldesh’s case in December. We have been drafting the reply. Within one week we will send it to them."

When Tofail toured the US from June 10 to June 14, six Congressmen met him and demanded an explanation on the ongoing 'repression on workers'. This has been claimed by Amirul Haq Amin, president of National Garments Workers Federation (NGWF) in a letter. NGWF is also a member of global workers’ union IndustriALL.

After the meeting Mozena expressed his satisfaction over 'some progresses' made in the RMG industry to ensure workers rights.

Registration of 157 trade unions, visit of 1500 factories, recruitment of inspectors were some of the steps he appreciated.

He said, “Bangladesh is making progress. I hope it will continue. If the trends go on, then we will see a different scenario by December.”

USA suspended Bangladesh’s GSP facility on June 17, 2013.

It presented a 16-point work plan to Bangladesh, which was supposed to review in six months. But the following month GSP programme expired.