Staff Reporter :
Road communication with Bhutan will boost Bangladesh’s trade, commerce and tourism sectors via third country.
Direct road connectivity between Bangladesh and Bhutan will be beneficial for both the countries and Bhutanese students can take the opportunity of studying high standard chartered accountancy in Bangladesh.
The commerce minister said that the Bhutanese students could avail of high standard chartered accountancy education in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh has good quality education system in this regard. Besides, signing of the Bangladesh-Bhutan trade agreement has ushered in a new era for both the countries.
Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi said this to journalists after a meeting with a nine-member delegation of Bhutan led by its Secretary of the Ministry of External Affairs Dasho karma Tshering, in the secretariat on Thursday.
The Commerce Minister has also opined that communications between Bangladesh and Bhutan through Syedpur regional airport and Burimari and Banglabandha land ports would enhance bilateral trade and commerce and yield better outcomes for the two countries.
Bangladesh has already declared Syedpur Airport as a regional airport to set up air communication with Bhutan and other neighboring countries and has also undertaken necessary development activities for the development of the airport, Tipu Munshi said.
Describing Bhutan as “a close friend of Bangladesh”, Tipu said that Bhutan was the first country to recognize Bangladesh as an independent and sovereign state during the War of Liberation which Bangladesh recalls always with gratitude.
He also noted that the Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) signed between the two countries on December 6, 2020 has ushered in a new era between the two countries.
Commerce Ministry Additional Secretary Nur Md Mahbubul Haque and other high officials of the ministry were present on the occasion.
Earlier on Wednesday, the two-day 8th commerce secretary level meeting between Bangladesh and Bhutan ended in the capital with a set of decisions, including finalizing transit agreement and protocol in a bid to strengthen implementation of the PTA signed between the two countries.
Senior Secretary of the Ministry of Commerce Tapan Kanti Ghosh led the 20-member Bangladesh delegation while Secretary of the Ministry of External Affairs of Bhutan Dasho karma Tshering led the nine-member Bhutanese delegation during the two-day secretary level meeting.
The other decisions taken in the meeting were simplifying communication through a 3rd country as well as taking initiatives for simplifying trade and commerce, boosting mutual cooperation to flourish tourism industry, enhancing mutual cooperation between Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI) and Bhutan Standard Bureau (BSB), Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) and Bhutan Agriculture and Food Regulatory Authority.
The other major decisions taken in the meeting were boosting mutual cooperation to remove tariff and non-tariff barriers in trade and importing stones from Bhutan through Sonarhat Land Port alongside transporting Bhutanese products.
