SAARC food bank seen as saviour

Bangladesh proposes bolstering the dormant SAARC food bank as countries suffer from grain shortages largely amid global supply crunch for war and sanctions.
Sources say the proposal was made when visiting South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Secretary-General Esala Ruwan Weerakoon met high-ups at the foreign ministry in Dhaka on Monday.
Commenting on the proposal state minister for foreign affairs M Shahriar Alam said Bangladesh highlights the need for a concerted effort among regional countries to absorb shocks from the current crisis.
"We have earlier contributed to the food bank and are ready to continue it," he said, adding that presently Sri Lanka and Afghanistan are in dire need of agriculture inputs. As the Ukraine war and the pandemic have ignited a global food shortage, Bangladesh urged the SAARC to initiate innovative steps to get rid of the exigency.
The duty call of the day is reflected in the UN alarm raised about hunger haunting different pockets of the world, particularly some African countries.
"We have extended our cooperation to Sri Lanka and are ready to help further under the SAARC umbrella," he adds.
Referring to his meeting with the SAARC Secretary-General he said that both of them agreed to expedite collective action to combat food and economic crises in the region.
The state minister further said that India agreed to continue wheat export to Bangladesh -- bending a ban Delhi has imposed on the grain export.
"We have talks with the Indian minister and he assured us that India would export wheat to Bangladesh."
Mr Alam mentioned that the Indian government would implement all the pending wheat-purchase contracts with Bangladesh.
The country is also going to bring wheat from India in July through government procurement, he informed.
However, the state minister said that holding SAARC summit now is very difficult under the current geopolitical and economic situation.
Responding to a question he said that as the present Afghan government is not recognized by other SAARC countries, excepting Pakistan, a move is on to exclude Afghanistan from any meeting of SAARC until the recognition.
Mr Alam also notes that SAARC lacks the compactness of the EU as some members have bitter ties with neighbours.

mirmostafiz@yahoo.com