Mangoes and Queen Pineapples sweeten India’s Act East Policy

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<strong>Reciprocating the kind gesture of Bangladesh Prime Minister sending Haribhanga mangoes, Tripura’s Chief Minister, Biplab Kumar Deb, is now sending Sheikh Hasina Queen pineapples, known for their royal taste.</strong></p>
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It was exactly three days ago, a goodwill gift of 300 kilograms of Haribhanga mangoes was sent by the Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to the Tripura Chief Minister, Biplab Kumar Deb. These mangoes are a special variety which are grown in Bangladesh.</p>
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The exchange of fruits between Bangladesh and the State Government marks a new twist in India's Act East policy. Instead of being top driven, the Modi Government is encouraging bordering States to directly bond with the neighbouring countries.  New Delhi has visualised the northeast states with Assam as the bridgehead to economically integrate with Bangladesh and the 10-nation Association of SouthEast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which is at the heart of India's Act East Policy.</p>
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<strong>Also read: <a href="https://www.indianarrative.com/latest-news/bangladesh-pm-sent-mangoes-to-indian-pm-cms-100249.html">Bangladesh PM sent mangoes to Indian PM, 5 CMs</a></strong></p>
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Officials say that Tripura is sending more than 650 kilograms of these pineapples to Bangladesh.</p>
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A senior official in the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) told the IndianExpress.com, that 100 packets of queen pineapples would be sent to the Indian High Commission in Dhaka for Prime Minister Hasina.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://www.indianarrative.com/upload/news/Queen_pineapple.jpg" style="width: 720px; height: 480px;" /></p>
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The official stated: “The pineapples were procured from Ampi village in Gomati district, famous for growing queen pineapples. They will be sent in 100 packets, each carrying 4 pineapples. These fruits weigh 6.5-7 kg apiece, and are of the best quality grown in our State.”</p>
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In order to make sure that nothing goes wrong, the consignment has undergone rigorous quality checks. The fruits will be sent through Akhaura Integrated Check Post (ICP) to the Indian High Commission in Dhaka today. From there it will be handed over to the Bangladesh premier the next day, that is Sunday.</p>
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A post by the Bangladesh Assistant High Commissioner at Agartala earlier this week had said: “The mangoes were handed over to Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb during a cordial visit at his office. The CM happily accepted the gift and thanked Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for it. He praised the economic growth of Bangladesh under the stewardship of our PM. He also announced he would send a gift of Tripura’s famous queen pineapples to our PM.”</p>
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Besides Tirpura, the Bangladesh premier had also sent 2,000 kg of these seasonal mangoes to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Ram Nath Kovind, a 1,000 kg for each of them. The fruits were also sent to the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the Chief Ministers of other North-eastern States, sharing a border with Bangladesh. These States are Assam, Meghalaya and Mizoram.</p>
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The shape of these Haribhanga mangos are round, and their colour is black. They are very fleshy and fibreless and on an average each weighs between 200 to 400 grams.</p>
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Tripura grows an estimated bulk of 1.28 lakh million tonnes of pineapples every year across 8,800 hectare orchards in different districts.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://www.indianarrative.com/upload/news/Queen_pineapple_juice.jpg" style="width: 768px; height: 1024px;" /></p>
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The Queen pineapple variety is golden yellow, spiny, and with a sweet aroma. The average weight of this pineapple is 600 to 800 grams. The juice of this pineapple is bright yellow. Its aroma is unique, making it completely different from other pineapple varieties.</p>
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In 2018, President Ram Nath Kovind had declared the Queen variety of pineapple as the State fruit of Tripura. In 2015, Queen pineapple received the Geographical Indication (GI) tag.</p>