Joint study between India, Bangladesh trade pact to be finalised soon: Govt

Black_cats · Mar 5, 2022

Joint study between India, Bangladesh trade pact to be finalised soon: Govt

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Hasina (HT_PRINT)2 min read.Updated: 05 Mar 2022, 01:30 PM IST Livemint

Bangladesh is the sixth largest trade partner of India
Several steps are underway to facilitate trade between India and Bangladesh, including approval of a Detailed Project Proposal for developing container handling facility at Sirajganj Bazar

Government of India said it will soon finalise a joint study with Bangladesh on the prospects of entering into a bilateral free trade agreement, which aims at further strengthening economic ties between the countries.

The issue was discussed during a meeting between Commerce Secretary BVR Subrahmanyam and Bangladesh's Senior Secretary, Ministry of Commerce, Tapan Kanti Ghosh on March 4.

Both sides held discussions on a variety of issues including the development of railway infrastructure, port infrastructure, joint study on Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), Border Haats, regional connectivity through multi-modal transportation, harmonisation of standards, mutual recognition agreement.

"CEPA study to be finalized at the earliest," the ministry said.

CEPA is a kind of comprehensive free trade pact under which two trading partners significantly reduce or eliminate customs duties on the maximum number of goods traded between them. They also liberalise norms to facilitate trade in services and boost investments.

Bangladesh is the sixth largest trade partner of India. Several steps are underway to facilitate trade between India and Bangladesh, including approval of a Detailed Project Proposal for developing container handling facility at Sirajganj Bazar, construction of a new 900 meter siding line at Benapole for running freight trains, completion of construction of a loading and unloading platform at Darshana for import of all commodities among others.

Besides, there was a consensus over the use of returning empty railway wagons/containers by Bangladesh as this would reduce overall logistics cost of India's exports to Bangladesh. Further, closed Border Haats due to Covid restriction would be opened soon and 24x7 operationalization of Petrapole-Benapole Integrated Check Post (ICP) would also be implemented, the Centre said.

The bilateral trade between India and Bangladesh stood at $10.8 billion in 2020-21, as against $9.5 billion in 2019-20. Major exports from India to Bangladesh include cotton, cereals, fuel, vehicle parts and machinery and mechanical appliances.