BSS, Dhaka :
A joint business council for Bangladesh and India will be set up by April this year, which will identify the major obstacles to the growth of bilateral trade and business between the two neighbouring countries.
The business council will also recommend ways for quick resolution of the long-standing disputes in the trade, business and investment between Bangladesh and India.
“We have already passed a lot of time without effectively address the bottlenecks that are hindering the expected growth of our trade and business with India”, India-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IBCCI) President Mohammad Ali told BSS.
Now, he said, “We would like to proceed as fast as we can to set up the joint business council, proposed by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.”
Mamata on the last day of her three-day visit to Bangladesh had a lively interaction with business leaders at Sonargaon when she advised setting up a joint business council so the existing disputes in bilateral trade and business could be solved quickly. Her proposal came as the country’s business leaders underlined the tariff, non-tariff and para-tariff barriers as the stumbling blocks to expediting their trade relations with India.
Mohammad Ali said Mamata suggested that the problems in bilateral trade and business be solved with the joint efforts from a common platform such as the joint business council.
“So, we hope to set up the joint business council no later than two months,” said the chief of the chamber, which was established in 2007 to help solve bilateral business issues between India and Bangladesh.
He said they would soon start working with Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) to form the business council, which would include government officials and chamber representatives of the two countries.
“We will go to Kolkata first for setting up the council, and then to New Delhi to give the new platform the final shape,” Ali said.
He said after setting up of the business council, business leaders of the two countries would have the opportunity of addressing the problems in bilateral business with coordinated efforts, which would help resolve the drawbacks faster than before.
“We know our problems better and so does our counterpart in India,” the IBCCI president said, observing that all these problems of the businessmen of the two countries would be put together at the business council so those could be resolved with coordinated and effective efforts by the public and private sectors of the two countries.
Ali said India had already withdrawn all kinds of duties on the import of Bangladeshi products, except 25 alcoholic and drug items. But, he said, exports from Bangladesh were still facing huge problems due mainly to the non-tariff and para-tariff barriers by several Indian states.
For example, he said, “We hardly face any problem in exporting goods through Benapole to the West Bengal, but often suffer difficulties in case of exporting to Assam and Tripura because of local tax and tariff barriers.
Referring to the memorandum of understanding (MoU), singed on Saturday between IBCCI and ICC in presence of Mamata, Ali said under the MoU, the two trade bodies would conduct a joint study on the bottlenecks, which are hindering the growth of bilateral trade and business between India and Bangladesh.
According to Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) and Bangladesh Bank (BB), exports from Bangladesh to India during July-May of fiscal 2013-14 was $456.63 million against imports worth $5.51 billion from India.
A joint business council for Bangladesh and India will be set up by April this year, which will identify the major obstacles to the growth of bilateral trade and business between the two neighbouring countries.
The business council will also recommend ways for quick resolution of the long-standing disputes in the trade, business and investment between Bangladesh and India.
“We have already passed a lot of time without effectively address the bottlenecks that are hindering the expected growth of our trade and business with India”, India-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IBCCI) President Mohammad Ali told BSS.
Now, he said, “We would like to proceed as fast as we can to set up the joint business council, proposed by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.”
Mamata on the last day of her three-day visit to Bangladesh had a lively interaction with business leaders at Sonargaon when she advised setting up a joint business council so the existing disputes in bilateral trade and business could be solved quickly. Her proposal came as the country’s business leaders underlined the tariff, non-tariff and para-tariff barriers as the stumbling blocks to expediting their trade relations with India.
Mohammad Ali said Mamata suggested that the problems in bilateral trade and business be solved with the joint efforts from a common platform such as the joint business council.
“So, we hope to set up the joint business council no later than two months,” said the chief of the chamber, which was established in 2007 to help solve bilateral business issues between India and Bangladesh.
He said they would soon start working with Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) to form the business council, which would include government officials and chamber representatives of the two countries.
“We will go to Kolkata first for setting up the council, and then to New Delhi to give the new platform the final shape,” Ali said.
He said after setting up of the business council, business leaders of the two countries would have the opportunity of addressing the problems in bilateral business with coordinated efforts, which would help resolve the drawbacks faster than before.
“We know our problems better and so does our counterpart in India,” the IBCCI president said, observing that all these problems of the businessmen of the two countries would be put together at the business council so those could be resolved with coordinated and effective efforts by the public and private sectors of the two countries.
Ali said India had already withdrawn all kinds of duties on the import of Bangladeshi products, except 25 alcoholic and drug items. But, he said, exports from Bangladesh were still facing huge problems due mainly to the non-tariff and para-tariff barriers by several Indian states.
For example, he said, “We hardly face any problem in exporting goods through Benapole to the West Bengal, but often suffer difficulties in case of exporting to Assam and Tripura because of local tax and tariff barriers.
Referring to the memorandum of understanding (MoU), singed on Saturday between IBCCI and ICC in presence of Mamata, Ali said under the MoU, the two trade bodies would conduct a joint study on the bottlenecks, which are hindering the growth of bilateral trade and business between India and Bangladesh.
According to Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) and Bangladesh Bank (BB), exports from Bangladesh to India during July-May of fiscal 2013-14 was $456.63 million against imports worth $5.51 billion from India.
