Promotion of Indo-Bangla trade through NE urged

Guwahati, Mar 20: The North East and Bangladesh have initiated to explore business opportunities with trade bodies to open up new vistas coinciding with the visit of Bangladesh Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia's to India today( Mar 20, 2006).

President of Bangladesh Enterprise Institute (BEI) Farooq Sobhan has emphasised the need for greater interaction at all levels to facilitate trade between India and Bangladesh.

Speaking at a seminar on 'Role of connectivity and visa in facilitating trade between Bangladesh and North East India' yesterday, organised by South Asia Enterprise Development Facility (SEDF) and BEI here, Mr Sobhan said though Bangladesh and the north eastern region are geographically closer, trade between the two had lagged behind as compared to the overall bilateral trade between the country and Bangladesh.

The great potential, that the bilateral trade between the region and Bangladesh holds, has not yet been fully exploited, the BEI chief pointed out.

''Both the governments are to be blamed for this phenomenon, since NE does not even have a Bangladesh consulate even though major towns of Shylhet district of the country are just six hours drive from Guwahati,'' Mr Sobhan added.

Pointing out that informal trade continued between the two countries, he said, quoting recent studies, ''Traders prefer informal channels due to inefficient institutional set up and not due to trade policy barriers.'' Lower transaction costs in the informal channel was a major reason for the traders foregoing the formal routes, he added.

The BEI president informed that four Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) had been identified by SEDF and BEI. Both the organisations had initiated a project to reduce them so that the trade through formal routes could be promoted.

SEDF-IFC (International Finance Corporation) Programme Manager Marlon Lezama said the main objective of the seminar was to sensitise key stakeholders from the private and public sectors of both the countries and encourage them to take steps in redressing the bottlenecks. Mr Lezama said, ''Because these NTBs are often the result of inaction of the two governments, a major thrust of this project has been advocacy and dialogue.'' An Indian High Commission official in Dhaka, participating in the discussion, said in the present day, connectivity should not be subservient to politics.

He elaborated on the profitability in encouraging trade between the two countries through NE and pointed out that many Land Custom Stations (LCSs) on both sides of the border had been lying inoperative for years.

The official hoped announcements regarding opening of trade routes between Bangladesh and NE would be made during Begum Zia's visit.

Mr Sultan Ahmed Talukdar of Bangladesh Railway also elaborated on the viability of trade promotion between Bangladesh and the NE.

He also stressed on the need to reactivate railway routes and start new ones between the two sides.

Prof Altaf Jalil of Dhaka University and Shahab Enam Khan of Jahangirnagar University, Bangladesh, made special presentations in the seminar.

UNI