Indo-Bangladesh trade talks begin today

A Bangladesh-India meeting is set to begin today (Wednesday) in a Dhaka hotel to discuss ways of expediting bilateral trade between the two next-door neighbours, officials said.

“We’ll discuss trade potential and ways for removing bottlenecks,” a member of Bangladesh team for the trade talks told the FE Tuesday. Sources said anti-dumping duties imposed by India on some Bangladeshi products are expected to come up prominently for discussion at the commerce secretary-level meeting. Besides, recognition of BSTI certification, stock of Indian Rupee (INR) because of demonetization, utilization of Indian air-cargo space for Bangladesh’s export to third countries and Lilliput Kidswear issue have already been put on the agenda.

On the other hand, the Indian side is set to discuss different matters including enhancement of bilateral trade, removal of port restrictions, other trade infrastructure-related issues, BBIN (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal) initiatives and export of sugar to Bangladesh, they added. Progress in opening new border haats and future growth plans are set to be discussed at the meeting.

Commerce secretary of Bangladesh Shubhashis Basu will head the 16-memeber host crew in the two-day meet while his counterpart Rita Teaotia will lead the Indian side. The Indian authentic delegation has already arrived in the capital, Dhaka. The closing bilateral Indo-Bangla commerce secretary-level assembly took vicinity in New Delhi on November 15-16, 2016. Indo-Bangla bilateral merchandise change stood at $6.16 billion in the fiscal yr (FY) 2016-17, up from $5.45 billion in FY16.

Bangladesh’s exports to India fetched $672.40 million towards imports costing $6.16 billion, widening the alternate gap to $5.49 billion in FY 17.