The interim government of Bangladesh has begun importing rice from India, with the first shipment of 27,000 tonnes arriving at the Chittagong port. This delivery is part of a deal to purchase a total of 200,000 tonnes of rice from India, according to a Bangladeshi food official on Friday.
OpIndia
During a phone call, the official informed ANI, “There is no shortage of rice in Bangladesh at this moment. However, due to recent severe floods, the government has decided to import rice in order to avoid the crisis in the future.”
“Bangladesh interim government will import another 100,000 tonnes of rice from India through tender, in addition to 200,000 tonnes of parboiled rice”, he added.
“On top of the tenders, we have plan to import more rice from India through Government to Government (GtoG) level”, the official said.
Bangladesh has removed all tariffs on rice imports to maintain price stability. A significant quantity of rice is being imported from India at the private level under a zero-duty import arrangement.
“Private importers have so far taken permissions from the government (of Bangladesh) to import 1.6 million tonnes of rice from India”, the official said.
“We have also signed a GtoG deal with Myanmar to import 100,000 tonnes of rice”, he said.
“We are discussing with Vietnam and Pakistan to import rice”, he added without details.
India has already expressed its intention to collaborate with Bangladesh's interim government. Pranay Kumar Verma, the Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh, recently stated, “Even after the turbulent changes of August 5, I think we have engaged with the interim government of Bangladesh in full earnest”.
“If you look at the numbers, we have more trade in the last six months of this financial year than we had last year”, Verma added.
On August 5, a student-led uprising resulted in the removal of Sheikh Hasina from her position as Prime Minister of Bangladesh, following weeks of protests and violent clashes that claimed over 600 lives.
Hasina, 76, sought refuge in India, and an interim government was established under the leadership of Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus.
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