Agartala, Jul 14 (PTI) In a goodwill gesture, Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha on Thursday sent 100 boxes of pineapples to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.Dipak Baidya, the assistant director of horticulture department, handed over the pineapple boxes, weighing 750 kg in all, to Bangladesh officials at Akhaura checkpost.Earlier, Hasina had sent 600-kg mangoes for the Tripura chief minister.“Everyone knows that India and Bangladesh share cordial ties. Tripura had played a key role in the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971. The CM, in a goodwill gesture, sent 100 boxes of freshly harvested pineapples to Bangladesh prime minister,” Badiya told reporters.The move was also aimed at promoting the state’s best horticultural crop in Bangladesh, he said.“Pineapples grown in Tripura are unique in taste and quality, and have been gaining popularity in international markets,” he maintained.Baidya also said the fruit was last exported to Bangladesh in 2018.“Due to various reasons, we could not export the juicy fruit to our neighbouring country after 2018. We continue to export pineapples to Middle East nations, however. Besides, metro cities in the country, too, source pineapples from the state,” he explained.The National Horticulture Board (NHB) has already initiated a move to make Tripura’s Sepahijala district a major hub for the production of the queen variety of pineapple. The state annually produces 1.44 lakh MT pineapples on average, according to official records. PTI PSRMS RMS