Finance
Agriculture | Bangladesh Ship to directly go to the Middle East with agricultural products of Bangladesh
Dhaka, January 31: Instead of going around Singapore, ships can go directly to the Middle East with Bangladeshi agricultural products. Agriculture Minister Dr. Md. Abdur Razzak told reporters this information at the beginning of the meeting on the progress of export of agricultural products and potatoes at the secretariat on Monday.
He said, "I went to Dubai. An initiative was taken from the Ministry of Commerce in this regard. We assisted in that. We can directly send vegetables and fruits to the Middle East."
The minister said, "Recently we have reached an agreement with Dubai port. If we can go directly instead of going through Singapore, our ship will be able to go to Dubai in four to five days with vegetables."
Abdur Razzak said, "Our competitors in the export of agricultural products to the Middle East are Pakistan, India and Turkey. India exports potatoes. Ships from these countries can go directly to the ports of the Middle East, including Dubai. But our ships have to go through Singapore."
He said, "In the 2018 elections, we promised the nation to make the country self-sufficient in food. In reality, people do not go without food. At least they can eat rice twice a day. We have reached that goal. Now our goal is to provide people with nutritious and safe food. That is, overall. Emphasis on various aspects of food safety and comprehensively we want to implement it."
Claiming that we have achieved a lot in terms of food security, the agriculture minister said, "In Char and Haor areas, the areas we used to call underdeveloped in agriculture. Their environment is also unfavorable. But people in those areas can eat for two days. Now the challenge before us is to provide nutritious food."
"We have a packing house in Shyampur. But the location is not good. It is being modernized. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has given two acres of land to build another packing house in Purbachal. There will also be a laboratory there. Plans are complete. It will be completed soon. Hope to start working soon."
