The tri-country tour started with them setting off to Cambodia on 22 November though there’s a directive that the minister and secretary must not travel abroad together.
That order, sent from the prime minister’s office on 19 June 2011, said the minister and secretary of the same ministry must avoid travelling abroad together.
Being on this foreign tour, the food secretary couldn’t attend prime minister’s meeting with the secretaries on Sunday.
It was stated in the meeting that more than 1.6 million tonnes of rice and wheat are stored in the government warehouses. Yet, the price of rice is on the increase because of the mill owners’ and big traders’ trickery.
According to newspaper reports, the cost of the minister, secretary and other officials visiting in Vietnam will be borne by the government of that country. However, the cost of the Cambodia and Thailand tours will have to be borne by the Bangladesh government, indeed.
