An Indian official announced here on Saturday that his country will lift the restriction on the export of additional 500,000 tons of rice to cyclone battered Bangladesh poised to face food deficit in March next year.
Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee who made the announcement after his arrival in Bangladesh Saturday also expressed India's willingness to rebuild 10 villages in coastal areas severely affected by Cyclone Sidr on November 15.
Earlier, the Indian authorities waived restriction on export of50,000 tons of rice to Bangladesh in the wake of the cyclone disaster.
Bangladeshi Foreign Advisor Dr Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury received him at the airport. The Indian minister also handed over to him relief goods dispatched from New Delhi.
In his arrival statement to the press at the tarmac of the airport, Mukherjee said that India attaches great importance to its relations with Bangladesh.
Earlier, India pledged to donate 40,000 tons of rice and 10,000tons of wheat worth 22 million U.S. dollars as Bangladesh is facing food deficit following the cyclone that heavily damaged standing crops of around 130,000 tons.
The cyclone Sidr, one of the fiercest cyclones hit Bangladesh in the last 131 years, slammed the country's southern and southwestern areas on Nov. 15, affecting 30 out of total 64 districts and leaving thousand people dead and millions homeless.
Source: Xinhua
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