Move to realise $168m outstanding bills soon

The government has taken an initiative to realise US$ 168 million in outstanding export bills of jute goods from the Sudanese government, officials said.  
Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC), under the ministry of textiles and jute (MoTJ) , made shipment of the jute goods worth $ 25 million to Sudan in 1992.
After one year of the shipment the Sudan government paid only $ 11 million. The rest $ 14 million has now increased to $ 168 million (Tk 13.10 billion) with interest as dues.
They said the amount of export bills has remained unpaid over the last two decades. The government will send a letter to the Sudanese government requesting them to pay the export dues.
"We are trying our level best to realise the money. We would send a letter to the Sudanese government next week requesting them to pay our dues," BJMC Chairman Major General (Retd) Humayun Khaled told the FE.
He said Sudanese Ambassador in Bangladesh Dr Hassan E El Talib had a meeting with State Minister for Textiles and Jute Mirza Azam at the latter's secretariat office on May 11, 2014.  
The Sudanese ambassador (non-resident) assured the state minister that he would convey the matter to his government for taking steps to pay back the dues.
He also expressed his interest to supply cotton for the country's textiles and jute sector and import jute and jute goods from Bangladesh.
The BJMC chairman said Africa is a big market for our jute goods. There is immense demand of jute goods in Nigeria, Morocco, Ivory Cost, South Africa and other counties of the continent.  
He, however, said at present there is no export of jute goods through BJMC to Sudan.  
The BJMC exported jute goods worth Tk 13.78 billion ($ 168.43 million) to different countries of the globe during the fiscal year (FY) 2012-13. It exported 42,229.03 tonnes of jute goods to different African countries worth Tk 3.15 billion ($ 405.26 million) during the FY 2012-13. It exported 156,041.41 tonnes of jute goods to the continent (Africa) worth Tk 9.56 billion ($ 1,226.08 million) during the FY 2011-12, according to official data.