Dutch exhibit: Agri ministry defends its decision to send officials

The agricultural ministry defended the participation of officials', in phases, in a six-month-long exhibition in the Netherlands, without mentioning the exact number of delegates.

The day before, The Daily Star reported that at least 100 ministry officials will participate at the international horticulture exhibition.

The fair, which began on April 13, will continue til October 9 in the Dutch city of Almere.

It is held once every decade. This year, the theme is "Growing Green Cities". Thirty-three other countries apart from Bangladesh will be participating.

This is the first time Bangladesh will be participating in this fair.

The ministry yesterday organised a press briefing to share their targets and the achievements they are expecting from participating in the fair.

At the briefing, Abdur Razzak, agriculture minister, said, they are trying to send some Bangladeshi students to the Bangladeshi pavilion, along with one or two mid-level ministry officials.

According to The Daily Star's report, those who will be travelling to Europe for other project-related study tours will also stopover in the fair.

At the briefing, journalists questioned the huge number of participants from different ministries.

Wahida Akter, additional secretary of the ministry, said such foreign trips were halted during the pandemic but they picked up again now as many proposals were placed before the higher authorities.

"However, all ministries were given a circular with directives of cutting the number of participants. We are taking that into consideration."

The official said the number of participants will not exceed 40.

A total of 16 teams were prepared with two members in each team. Most of the members will be junior officers.

Only during the "Bangladesh Day", likely to be held in the first week of July, high-level officials, including the agriculture minister are likely to attend the fair.

Razzak said as Bangladesh is graduating to the status of developed country, participating in the fair could help the country present the "wonderful achievements" of agriculture sector to the world and help find export opportunities.

He added this participation has given Bangladesh the scope to become a member of the International Association of Horticultural Producers.

According to the briefing notes, the 1,000 square meter Bangladesh pavilion, with the theme of "Back to jute, back to nature", will be showcasing the country's jute products, processed foods and horticulture items.

Mehedi Masood, project director of the ministry's "Year-round fruit production for nutrition improvement" initiative, said jute products are popular in Europe.