The New Nation - Internet Edition

Bdnews24.com, Dhaka

India has already shipped more than four of the five lakh tonnes of rice promised to Bangladesh, the foreign secretary said yesterday.

"More than four lakh tonnes of rice has already been shipped to us," Md Touhid Hossain told bdnews24.com.

"The remaining one lakh will arrive soon," said the secretary, adding that India had offered the rice at the rate of $450 per tonne.

India has taken more than 8 months to send the 400,000 tonnes, since it pledged a total of 500,000 early last December.

Bangladesh appealed to the international community either to sell or donate rice to face a probable food shortage after Cyclone Sidr ravaged Bangladesh on Nov 15 last year.

The caretaker government invited all diplomats and donor representatives based in Dhaka to assist in amassing the more than 2 million tonnes of rice it estimated would be needed to face the aftermath of Sidr.

In response to Dhaka's call, Indian external affairs minister Pranab Mujherjee came to Dhaka on Dec 1 last year and promised to export the five lakh tonnes.

The Indian government had initially set a price below $420 per tonne, but was later forced to raise it as the price of rice in the global market soared sharply.