India, Bangladesh hold commerce secretary level meeting at Dhaka

A Commerce Secretary level meeting between Bangladesh and India was held in Dhaka. The two decided to move forward on the feasibility study on the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement

A Commerce Secretary level meeting between Bangladesh and India was held in Dhaka on Monday in which the two sides decided to expeditiously move forward on the feasibility study on the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA).

According to a statement released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the Bangladesh delegation was led by Md. Jafar Uddin and the Indian delegation was led by Anup Wadhawan.

"Extensive discussions were held on a variety of issues of mutual interest such as streamlining Certificate of Origin procedures, regional connectivity initiatives, anti-dumping duty on Jute products, harmonization of standards, removal of port restrictions, trade infrastructure-related issues, India-Bangladesh CEOs' Forum, sharing of trade data, upgradation of border trading infrastructure. Both sides decided to expeditiously move forward on the feasibility study on the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA)," the statement read.

During his visit, Wadhawan called on Commerce Minister of Bangladesh Tipu Munshi and Private Industry and Investment Advisor to Prime Minister of Bangladesh Salman F Rahman.

The President of Indian Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce (IBCCI) along with his board members called on the Commerce Secretary and discussed ways to further enhance the bilateral trade.

Earlier, a meeting of the Joint Working Groups (JWG) on Trade between the Commerce Ministries of both the countries was held on 16-17 February through video conference. The meeting had held detailed technical discussion on issues of mutual interest in trade and commerce.

According to statement, itt was agreed that the next meetings of the Commerce Secretaries and the JWG will be held in India, at mutually convenient dates.