Aiming at strengthening bilateral relationship alongside keeping the fruit “diplomacy alive”, Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha on Thursday gifted 750 kilograms of Kew pineapple, a special variety, to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
This is the largest consignment of pineapples sent to Bangladesh as a gift since the Bharatiya Janata Party formed the government in the Indian state in 2018.
In fact, it is the second time in four years that the Tripura government sent the state’s widely popular crop to Bangladesh as a goodwill gesture.
Indian officials facilitated the handover ceremony at the Integrated Check Post (ICP), Akhaura of Brahmanbaria in presence of the Bangladeshi officials.
Attaché Officer Manish Singh of the Indian High Commission in Chittagong received the pineapple at the Bangladesh border on the zero line between the two countries.
Tripura Horticulture Department Assistant Director Dipak Baidya said: “It’s a goodwill and friendly gesture from our state. Chief Minister Manik Saha sent the pineapples to the prime minister of Bangladesh.
“We are sending 100 boxes of different varieties of pineapples weighing 750 kilograms. Each pineapple is of 1.25 kgs on average and they are from the best harvest so far,” he added.
On the quality, Baidya said, the Kew pineapple is among the two best pineapples grown in Tripura. It is heavier than the “Queen Variety” but tastes similar.
He went on saying that the move was also aimed at promoting the state's best horticultural crop in Bangladesh.
The Kew variety of pineapple is very popular in the domestic market and it was officially exported to Bangladesh previously but due to Bangladesh’s push for Pineapple cultivation, some restrictions were capped after 2018.
Earlier on June 20, PM Hasina gifted 800 kgs of mangos to the Tripura chief minister and other dignitaries.
