Agriculture Minister Dr Md Abdus Shahid on Wednesday said the government will remain alert for controlling prices of essential commodities during the month of Ramadan.

"We are attaching priority to market management to control prices of essential commodities during the month of Ramadan," he told a meeting with journalists at his ministry here, an official release said on Wednesday .

Shahid warned hoarders and market manipulators to refrain from creating any artificial crisis of daily commodities during Ramadan.

The agriculture minister met with a delegation of US agricultural department led by US Soyabean Export Council Chairman Stan Born, Egyptian Ambassador to Bangladesh Omar, Mohie Eldin Ahmed Fahmy and Canadian Ambassador to Bangladesh Lilly Nicholls at the ministry.

The Egyptian ambassador sought cooperation of Bangladesh for cultivating jute in Egypt. "Once jute was cultivated in Egypt . . . we again want to start jute cultivation in our country as we have a jute processing industry," he added.

During the meeting, Shahid sought cooperation of Canadian government for modernization of the agriculture sector of Bangladesh.

The Canadian ambassador made assurance and said Bangladesh should focus on exporting agro-products through maintaining its quality.

The US delegation of the agricultural department expressed their interest for improving the processing system of agro-products.