60,000 tonnes of US wheat arrive
Charge de Affairs of US Embassy in Dhaka Nicholas Dean said here yesterday the US government had been playing a vital role in Bangladesh's food security and disaster management initiatives through its development organisation USAID.
The USAID is providing assistance in 43 most vulnerable and poverty-hit upazilas in Bangladesh, directly benefiting about 35 lakh people, he said.
The US official was speaking at a programme organised at Chittagong Port on the occasion of offloading of 60,000 tonnes of wheat, which came from the US as food aid. Nicholas Dean and USAID Mission Director Richard Greene witnessed the unloading activities.
The shipment is the first tranche of about 80,000 tonnes of food commodities that the United States will provide Bangladesh as aid in 2012 under its "Food for Peace" programme.
Ahmed Hossain Khan, director general, Directorate General of Food, said Bangladesh produced 3.4 crore tonnes of food and had to import 30 lakh tonnes of wheat every year.
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