Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has joked about the Indian government’s decision to ban the export of onions after its prices skyrocketed in the Indian market. Speaking at an event in New Delhi, Hasina said that she had instructed her cook to stop using onions while cooking meals.
“I don’t know why you stopped (the export of) onions. After that, I told my cook to stop cooking a meal using onions,” Hasina told the audience amidst wide applause.
The Indian government announced a sudden ban on the onions’ export after prices in India reached Rs 4,500 per 100 kgs last month. This was the highest increase in onions’ prices in the last six years.
Hasina, who is in Delhi to take part in the India Economic Summit of the World Economic Forum, urged the Indian government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi that it should give Bangladesh some notice the next time it implemented such harsh measures. “A little bit of notice (in the future) would be good so that we can import from other places. You banned it suddenly and this created troubles for us,” Hasina continued.
#WATCH Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in Delhi: Pyaaz mein thoda dikkat ho gya hamare liye. Mujhe maloom nahi kyun aapne pyaaz bandh kar diya? Maine cook ko bol diya ab se khana mein pyaaz bandh kardo. (Indian Govt had banned export of Onions on September 29) pic.twitter.com/NYt4ds9Jt2
— ANI (@ANI) October 4, 2019
The Bangladeshi prime minister concluded, “The next time you do such things, please let us know in advance, thank you.”
India’s ban on the exports of onions has had an adverse impact on the prices of the vegetables in Bangladesh, which has been forced to look towards China and Egypt among other countries to import onions.