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Download PDF Bangladesh yesterday asked for duty-free access for its goods to the Indian market and the removal of non-tariff and para-tariff barriers to reduce nearly $8 billion cumulative trade deficit between Bangladesh and India, when Foreign Affairs Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury met Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
Terming the meeting an attempt to revive the dormant bilateral negotiation structures between the two neighbours, Iftekhar said India reassured Bangladesh that no water would be diverted from the Tipaimukh river and Mukherjee has given positive signs for ratifying the 1974 Indira-Mujib Land Boundary Agreement.
“We asked the Indian government to provide duty-free access for Bangladeshi goods to the Indian market,” Iftekhar told reporters at a briefing at Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi, ahead of the 14th Saarc Summit to be held in the Indian capital.
“We discussed Bangladesh’s cumulative $7 to 8 billion trade deficit with India which should be brought down and I requested my counterpart to dismantle non-tariff and para-tariff barriers for Bangladeshi goods in order to reduce the gap,” Iftekhar added.
According to a World Bank report, over 15% of Bangladeshi imports come from India, while Bangladeshi goods account for only 1% of Indian imports. Currently trade between Bangladesh and India stands at $2 billion a year.
Iftekhar added that Mukherjee was receptive to this particular proposal, as they also decided to revive the annual foreign secretary-level meeting between the two countries, which has not been held for the past two years.
Asked whether Indian assurances are similar to the ‘rhetoric’ of the past, the adviser said that both he and Mukherjee agreed to establish relations so that they are put on an irreversible trajectory.
It is an absolute necessity for the existing structural processes to be revived in order to make this relationship effective, he added.
He also proposed keeping the Dahogram and Angurpota enclaves open for 24 hours instead of the current eight hours to Mukherjee.
Pranab agreed to Iftekhar’s proposal that India should allow Bangladesh privileges as a least developed country in accordance with the Bangkok Agreement.
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