Agriculture Minister Dr Abdur Razzaque on Tuesday said 230,000 tons of rice are being imported from Vietnam.
“These rice will be brought on a GTU basis. Rice may take 15-20 days to arrive. Besides, 300,000 tons of wheat are being brought from Russia,” he said.
The minister made the remarks while talking to reporters after a meeting with Vietnamese Ambassador to Bangladesh Pham Viet Chien at the secretariat. Agriculture Secretary Saidul Islam was also present at the time.
Razzaque said: “Currently, there are about 1.8 million tons of food stock in the country. Under the food-friendly program, five million families will be given rice at Tk15 per kg. Besides, rice will be distributed to 10 million families at Tk30 per kg through TCB. Rice will also be sold in OMS. All in all, the price of rice will decrease soon.”
“The ambassador of Vietnam proposed a tripartite agreement for agricultural cooperation between Bangladesh, Vietnam and the Netherlands. There is agricultural cooperation between Vietnam and the Netherlands. Cooperation with the Netherlands improved Vietnam’s agriculture. As all three countries are deltas, their mutual cooperation will benefit all parties,” he added.
Meanwhile, Vietnamese Ambassador to Bangladesh Pham Viet Chien said that Vietnam is currently the first exporter of cashew nuts and second in coffee.
“About 50% of cashew-coffee exports are produced in that country, while the rest is processed from India and African countries,” she mentioned.
The agriculture minister said that importance is being given to the expansion of cashew nut and coffee cultivation in Bangladesh and requested the cooperation of Vietnam in this regard.
He further said: “In the last two years, we have given two million cashew nut seedlings to the farmers. Cashew nut production has already started. Hopefully, Bangladesh will also do well in this sector as well.”
