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Rice export ban lifted for cyclone-hit Bangladesh
Rice export ban lifted for cyclone-hit Bangladesh
Sunday December 02, 2007
India will allow cyclone-battered Bangladesh to import half a million tonnes of rice from New Delhi, an Indian minister said here Saturday, lifting a ban on exports of the food staple.
The announcement by visiting Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee came after neighbouring Bangladesh appealed for international help earlier in the week to prevent a food crisis in the impoverished nation.
Mukherjee, on a one-day whistlestop tour of cyclone-hit areas, said the "magnitude of the natural calamity" prompted India to remove the ban on rice exports to Bangladesh.
India shares with Bangladesh "a common history of struggle for freedom and liberation," he added, calling it "natural that, like always, we stand by Bangladesh in its efforts to rebuild the lives" of those hit by the cyclone.
The minister made the comments as he handed over 36 tonnes of milk powder, blankets, medicines and other relief aid to his Bangladeshi counterpart at Dhaka airport.
India backed Bangladesh in its 1971 war to win independence from Pakistan but ties have seesawed since over claims by India that it is being swamped by illegal Bangladeshi migrants and charges by both sides of the sheltering of fugitives.
Bangladesh foreign minister Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury expressed gratitude on behalf of the country's military-backed government for India's "generous gesture."
"India has shown solidarity in this hour," he said. "We are grateful."
India, the world's third-largest rice exporter, clamped a ban on rice exports two months ago in a bid to reduce soaring domestic prices of the vital food staple that were causing anger among consumers.
The Bangladesh government requested on Wednesday half a million tonnes of food aid from the world as concerns mounted over a shortfall in staples such as rice to feed thousands of people devastated by the November 15 cyclone.
The cyclone killed more than 3,200 people, wiping out thousands of villages and damaging crops worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
"India has decided to waive the ban on export of rice to Bangladesh for an additional 500,000 tonnes of rice," Mukherjee said.
India announced a waiver on the export of 50,000 tonnes of rice in the immediate aftermath of the cyclone and said it would donate 40,000 tonnes of rice and 10,000 tonnes of wheat.
Indian disaster assistance to Bangladesh has totalled 39 million dollars so far this year, including for devastating monsoon floods that struck the nation earlier in the year, Mukherjee said.
Bangladesh has repeatedly denied Indian charges that separatist rebels use bases within Bangladesh to launch attacks in northeast India.
The South Asian nation has also made similar charges against India, saying Bangladeshi criminals have gone into hiding in the neighbouring country.
The Indian minister was the first foreign politician to visit the cyclone-hit nation.
"Bilateral relations are progressing in a smooth manner and we will take them to a level where they will permanently stabilise," the Bangladesh minister said.
Fijilive
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