A REPORT published in The New Nation on Wednesday said the World Bank has laid emphasis on seamless transport link to increase trade and income of people of South Asian countries such as Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Bhutan. A report of the bank has said if trade can be developed without tariff and para tariff barriers and other customs regulations, there is a potential to raise income by as much as 17 per cent in Bangladesh and 8 per cent for India. Bangladesh exports to India will grow by 297 per cent and that of India to Bangladesh may similarly rise by 172 per cent. Activation of the Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal (BBIN) Motor Vehicles Agreement (MVA) alone may bring a big push to regional connectivity and integration of trade for these countries and the particularly the Indian states of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura and West Bengal will gain tremendously.
It however needs harmonization of regulations and customs procedures, developing road and ports infrastructure and removing other logistics barriers to allow the supply chain to grow across the border. Now handling a truck at the Bangladesh-India border takes several days for clearance while it only takes less than six hours in other regions.
The WB report says regional countries are losing the huge potentials for growth. Bangladesh’s bilateral trade with India is only 10 percent while it is only 1 percent of India’s external trade. This small percentage from a huge economy is however so big but India is using all possible barriers to limit Bangladesh trade to overcome the huge trade gap. We would say such a domineering outlook is blocking all meaningful integration to evenly benefit the region and particularly smaller countries.
Tariff and para tariff barriers would only lead to one way capture of others’ markets and thus killing the potentials of the region to grow together. Free trade or preferential trade could be the best way but Delhi is pressuring Bangladesh to accept its corrosive customs regulations and anti-dumping duty to discourage our exports. India wants seamless connectivity but is not ready to make similar concessions. So India’s doing business with Europe or Latin America is cheaper by 15-20 per cent in many cases than with Bangladesh. We would say the WB has raised the right issue but must work with India so that it reciprocates the gestures of smaller countries.
