EC envoy warns of food crunch if stocks not filled

Dhaka, Nov 28 (bdprem.com) � The EC envoy in Dhaka Wednesday said Bangladesh could face 'real difficulties' with food security if stocks were not replenished by March and suggested the government tasked World Food Programme (WFP) to buy grains. Your Ad Here Head of the European Commission (EC) delegation in Dhaka Stephan Frowein sounded the warning at a dialogue on "EC-Bangladesh Relations in the Field of Trade" at a city hotel. The talk was organised by the Diplomatic Correspondents Association of Bangladesh (DCAB). Frowein said food procurement would be faster if Bangladesh tasked the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) to buy grains. "The government is meeting food grain demand from its own stock. If the stock is not refilled by March next year, you could be in real difficulties," said "The food adviser Tapan Chowdhury told us that Bangladesh needed one million tons�500 thousand tons from the donors and 500 thousand tons from internal sources�of food grains by March next year". The EU envoy supported emergency rule in Bangladesh. "We are not happy with states of emergency anywhere in the world. But the state of emergency here is different from others and it has been managed in a pragmatic way". "The collaboration among civilians, the military and donors is an excellent example for the world", Frowein said. "A return to the street confrontations and irreconcilable party politics which characterised the pre-1/11 era would be catastrophic for Bangladesh's prosperity," he said. The EC envoy said food procurement through government channels was a time-consuming affair. "There is a donor proposal to procure food through the WFP; it can buy grains faster, comparing rates from around the world," he said. Frowein said the EC would be proposing revisions to its rules of origin. According to the proposed rules, least developed countries (LDCs) like Bangladesh will be able to export products to EU markets with a 30 percent value addition on commodities from third countries. For non-LDCs, the value addition ratio will be 50 percent. The ambassador observed that Bangladesh's exports to EU countries might be under threat if the EU signed proposed free trade agreements with India and the ASEAN countries. He said EU restrictions on Chinese textiles would be lifted in 2009 in accordance with the agreement on China's entry to the World Trade Organisation. "Bangladesh has been an indirect beneficiary of EU safeguard measures," Frowein said. The dialogue was presided over by DCAB president Anis Alamgir and also addressed by the organisation's secretary Raheed Ejaz.