[FINANCIAL EXPRESS]
Bangladesh is set to tie up with Cambodia for promoting investment and
development co-operation in agricultural sector aiming to raise food
grain production through taking some of the latter's land on lease,
officials said.
The Prime Minister of the South-East Asian
nation Hun Sen is scheduled to visit Dhaka soon when the two countries
are expected to sign a number of deals on bilateral cooperation, mainly
on farming, the officials added.
"The major cooperation will be
in the agricultural sector as food shortage-stricken Bangladesh seeks to
take land on lease from Cambodia to produce rice there and bring the
same back to meet local demand," a senior commerce ministry official
told the FE.
During Hun Sen's visit, the two countries will form a
joint commission at the foreign ministers' level, sign a deal for
holding annual advisory meetings at the foreign secretary-level and tie
up for bilateral cooperation in the agricultural sector.
They
will also sign deals about taking lease of Cambodian land, importing
rice from there to Bangladesh, providing visa exemption for diplomats
and promoting investment.
Cambodia has sought Bangladesh's
investment for establishing rice mills there as the former has no such
facility. The Cambodian farmers grow paddy and export the same directly
to Vietnam and Thailand.
Sources said a nine-member committee,
headed by a joint secretary of the ministry of commerce, has been formed
to explore the possibility of leasing land for farming in Cambodia.
The
committee has also been tasked with handling the matter about setting
up rice husking mills in Cambodia and importing or procuring rice
produced there by the would-be Bangladeshi investors.
The members of the committee will shortly visit Cambodia to sort out the matters, the sources added.
Cambodia
has already granted lease of some of its lands to other countries for
farming and Bangladesh is seeking long-term lease of such land for a
period, up to 99 years.
Officials said Cambodian land is ideal
for high quality rice production and Bangladesh has large potential to
reap gains out of taking land there on lease.
The world's fourth
largest rice-growing nation, Bangladesh, with an average annual
production of 33 million tonnes, has, however, been one of the major
foodgrain importers this fiscal.
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