Bangladesh has requested India to export 50,000 tons of onions and 100,000 tons of sugar before Ramadan.
Foreign Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud on Monday said he made the request during his recently concluded New Delhi visit when Indian Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal promised to export 20,000 tons of onions and 10,000 tons of sugar.
He met the Indian minister on February 9.
“We are dependent on the Indian market for many essential commodities, particularly onions, sugar, lentils and spices,” Hasan said.
“I requested them to set an export quota for us so that at least we can import these from them at the right price and per our requirement.”
The foreign minister said he had invited Indian President Droupadi Murmu to visit Bangladesh at a convenient time.
“She accepted the invitation. We will send the formal invitation soon.”
Replying to a question, the foreign minister said he had discussed the border killing issue in his meeting with his Indian counterpart, S Jaishankar.
“We agreed that the use of non-lethal weapons can reduce border killings,” he said, adding that they had also discussed the Teesta water-sharing issue.
“You know that the the Teesta deal does not depend on the Centre, but the state. The issue will be looked at after the national election [in India] in April-May,” he said.