The Centre for Policy Dialogue organised a talk on trade between India and Bangladesh on Tuesday.The institution also recommended infrastructural improvements in the land ports and removing India’s non-tariff barriers on export to improve trade.

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam was the chief guest at the event.CPD Executive Director Mostafizur Rahman, who presented the keynote paper, said luring in Indian investments to the sectors which export to the country was crucial for facilitating trade between the countries.

“Trade barriers have to be removed if we want to attract this investment,” he said.But he said India’s duty-free access of readymade garment products for Bangladesh would not have a big impact on export.

“Bangladesh will also have to take some major steps to relax trade barriers.”Rahman said 90 percent of the trade with India was done through land ports. “We have not done the kind of development required to handle such a large flow of trade,” he said.

He recommended improvement of land port infrastructures, increasing warehouse facilities, setting up cold storages and laboratories and digitalisation of import-export documents.

“These things will reduce the costs of trade and increase Bangladesh’s trade capacity in the Indian market. These things are also important for import, because they affect the costs of both,” he said.

CPD Honorary Fellow Debapriya Bhattacharya said Bangladesh had been unable to make use of the facilities given by India because of lack of effort, continuity and coordination within the government.

Bangladeshi businesses need 21 pieces of documentation to export to the European Union while for India they need 75.

Former FBCCI president Abdul Awal Mintoo said Bangladesh would have to diversify its export goods and improve their quality to capture the market.

India-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industries President Abdul Matlub Ahmed said many Indian investors wanted to come to Bangladesh but uncertainty over getting land, gas and power connections held them back.

State Minister Shahriar Alam said the government had taken several initiatives to bolster trade with India, including the ongoing effort to open two deputy high commissions, one at Guwahati in Assam and another in Chennai.

“These two deputy high commissions are awaiting Indian government approval,” he said.“Also, we are trying to launch two more sets of trains and container trains. Hopefully in the future more initiatives will be taken to increase communications with India, which will benefit both the countries in trade and other issues,” he said.

Source:- bdnews24.com