Bangladesh is buying aircraft from US company Boeing according to the wishes of US President Donald Trump, Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister M Rashiduzzaman Millat has said.
He said, “Trump has asked one thing from our honourable prime minister, that is, ‘use our Boeings’. We are doing it; we are buying them. We are buying 14 Boeings, and we will lease more.
“Meanwhile, we are also buying from France, England and Germany, where Airbus (aircraft) is manufactured, and we will also buy from them. We will take on more and do it well.”
The minister made the remarks at a coordination meeting of the Mymensingh district administration on Monday.
Millat, the MP from Jamalpur-1 (Dewanganj-Bakshiganj) constituency, was given the responsibility of supervising and coordinating the government's activities in Mymensingh, Sherpur and Netrokona on Aug 27.
Biman Bangladesh Airlines signed an agreement with the American company Boeing on Apr 30 to buy 14 aircraft amid debate.
The cost of buying these aircraft amounts to $3.7 billion or Tk 454.08 million (at an exchange rate of Tk 122.73 per dollar). Boeing will supply these aircraft to Biman in stages between 2031 and 2035.
A policy decision to buy 10 Airbuses was announced during the Awami League government.
However, the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government in the July Uprising and pressure from Trump's tariffs ultimately led to Biman purchasing aircraft from Boeing. But under pressure from Europe, the BNP government wants the national carrier to also buy aircraft from Airbus.
The civil aviation minister said, “We will develop the country; I will fulfil my responsibilities, whatever they are. I ask that everyone who has responsibilities - just be responsible; nothing else is needed.”
Millat said, “You know that the honourable Prime Minister Mr Tarique Rahman is working 18 hours a day now. It would take a long time to describe how work was done during the previous government, during the fascist government, and you already know what it was like. And although many did not want to, since they are government officials, they had to work according to their instructions. The work was against the people.”
He said, “Now we want to do people-friendly work. To do people-friendly work, you all have to sacrifice a little. …If we don’t do our work, we will feel ashamed of ourselves. But afterwards you will see that our tendency to work will increase and we will be able to do the work that is voluntarily within our working capacity.”
The minister said, “I think that the responsibility that has been given to me—Mymensingh, Sherpur and Netrokona; I think that all the MPs, the people in the administration, the officials - whatever you need to develop these districts, I will do my utmost to provide.
“I don’t know how much I can do, but I will give 100 percent effort for you—to develop these areas and to fulfil the wishes and aspirations of the people through you.”
Addressing government officials, the minister said: “If we ourselves, the representatives of the people, do not do our jobs properly, then they will get annoyed; they will turn their backs on us.
“…see how Sheikh Hasina departed. If we politicians do not learn from her, then this Bangladesh will never be educated. We have to learn.
"Forcibly doing something and giving orders to officials with an authoritarian attitude and forcing them to work, forcing them to do nothing—these are the actions that our honourable chief Tarique Rahman wants to refute. He wants to do the opposite of this. Who does he want to do this with? With you."
