UNB, Dhaka :
The Cabinet on Monday approved the draft of the amended trade agreement between Bangladesh and India with a scope for pursuing trade with 3rd countries by making use of passage through each other’s territory.
The approval was given at the regular weekly meeting of the Cabinet held at Bangladesh Secretariat today with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
Briefing the newsmen after the meeting, Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said that the existing agreement was first signed on March 28, 1972 and was renewed time-to-time before the last signing of the agreement in 2009.
The existing agreement had a provision that both the countries could make agreements for mutually beneficial arrangements to use each other’s waterways, roadways and railways to facilitate trade and commerce between India and Bangladesh, or passage of goods from one location to another within each other’s territory – which allowed Bangladesh few advantages.
The proposed agreement kept provision of using these facilities for trade and commerce with the third country also.
The Cabinet Secretary said that as a result of the new agreement, Bangladesh would be gaining a vital benefit as it would open up a new horizon for the country’s trade and commerce with Nepal and Bhutan.
The draft agreement also kept a scope of increasing the tenure of the agreement to five years from existing three years and it would be renewed automatically if no party disagrees with it. The agreement would be affective from April 1 this year since it expired on March 31.
The fee and charges for using the road, rail and waterways would be fixed up by mutual consultation, he added.
Musharraf said that under the revised agreement, Bangladesh would be able to use the roadways, waterways and railways through India if it wants to do trade with Nepal and Bhutan.
M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said the cabinet also gave nod in principle to the draft of “The Ports ( Amendment ) Bill, 2015” aimed at authorising the Shipping Ministry to override the “Natural Water Reservoir Act, 2000” in case of its constructions of establishments to keep the river ports operational. The original Port Act was first framed in the year 1908.
The Cabinet on Monday approved the draft of the amended trade agreement between Bangladesh and India with a scope for pursuing trade with 3rd countries by making use of passage through each other’s territory.
The approval was given at the regular weekly meeting of the Cabinet held at Bangladesh Secretariat today with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
Briefing the newsmen after the meeting, Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said that the existing agreement was first signed on March 28, 1972 and was renewed time-to-time before the last signing of the agreement in 2009.
The existing agreement had a provision that both the countries could make agreements for mutually beneficial arrangements to use each other’s waterways, roadways and railways to facilitate trade and commerce between India and Bangladesh, or passage of goods from one location to another within each other’s territory – which allowed Bangladesh few advantages.
The proposed agreement kept provision of using these facilities for trade and commerce with the third country also.
The Cabinet Secretary said that as a result of the new agreement, Bangladesh would be gaining a vital benefit as it would open up a new horizon for the country’s trade and commerce with Nepal and Bhutan.
The draft agreement also kept a scope of increasing the tenure of the agreement to five years from existing three years and it would be renewed automatically if no party disagrees with it. The agreement would be affective from April 1 this year since it expired on March 31.
The fee and charges for using the road, rail and waterways would be fixed up by mutual consultation, he added.
Musharraf said that under the revised agreement, Bangladesh would be able to use the roadways, waterways and railways through India if it wants to do trade with Nepal and Bhutan.
M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said the cabinet also gave nod in principle to the draft of “The Ports ( Amendment ) Bill, 2015” aimed at authorising the Shipping Ministry to override the “Natural Water Reservoir Act, 2000” in case of its constructions of establishments to keep the river ports operational. The original Port Act was first framed in the year 1908.
