A Commerce Secretary level meeting between India and Bangladesh was held in New Delhi on 4th March 2022. The commerce secretary of the government of India, B.V.R. Subrahmanyam led the Indian delegation while Mr. Tapan Kanti Ghosh, who is the senior secretary in the ministry of commerce of the government of Bangladesh, led the Bangladesh delegation.
According to a report by ANI, in this meeting, both sides held extensive discussions on a variety of issues of mutual interest. The discussed issues include the development of railway infrastructure, port infrastructure, Joint Study on Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), Border Haats, Regional connectivity through Multi–Modal Transportation, Harmonization of Standards, Mutual Recognition Agreement.
It is notable that Bangladesh is the sixth largest trade partner of India. Keeping this thing in mind, both sides discussed various aspects of improving the multimodal connectivity between the two countries. Among the issues discussed for the facilitation of trade between India-Bangladesh through railways, a Detailed Project Proposal (DPP) was approved for developing a container handling facility at Sirajganj Bazar.
A 900-meter long new siding line is constructed at Benapole for running freight trains between India-Bangladesh. Besides, the construction of the loading and unloading platform is completed at Darshana in order to allow the import of all commodities from India by rail via Darshana. A DPP is also approved for the development of Rail and Road-based ICD at Ishwardi.
A consensus was made over the use of returning empty railway wagons/containers by Bangladesh. The overall logistics cost of India’s exports to Bangladesh will be significantly reduced due to this. Both the countries also agreed upon opening the border haats which were closed due to covid restriction. CEPA study will also be finalized soon.
Press Information Bureau has said in its press release that the meeting was preceded by the 14th meeting of the Joint Working Group (JWG) on Trade, at the level of Joint/Additional Secretaries of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, and Ministry of Commerce, Government of Bangladesh on 2-3 March 2022 in New Delhi. Comprehensive discussions were held on various areas of mutual interest. In the meeting, it was agreed that the next meetings of the JWG and Commerce Secretaries will be held in Bangladesh and the dates of this meeting will be decided as per mutual convenience.
