Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee informed Foreign Adviser Iftekhar A Chowdhury of the 'gift' in a letter. Indian High Commissioner Pinak R Chakraborty delivered the letter personally to Iftekhar at the foreign ministry yesterday.

During last week's visit by Indian State Minister for Commerce Jairam Ramesh, Dhaka had asked New Delhi whether Bangladesh could import some of these products. India has decided to 'gift' some of the goods to Bangladesh instead.

Ramesh had said that some of the goods that were asked for could not be provided since India itself imports those goods from other countries.

Iftekhar told the reporters that the gift from India was for strengthening the relationship between the two countries and it would come in handy in the upcoming month of Ramadan.

Asked to comment on Ramesh's remark last week that India wants to see Bangladesh as a 'secular and democratic' nation, Chakraborty said "You (Bangladeshis) should live in whichever way that makes you happy."

Chakraborty also talked about a number of upcoming Saarc and bilateral meetings and other discussions in the pipeline.

The bilateral Joint Rivers Commission is set to meet next month, while the home ministers are also set to meet early in August.