Kolkata hosts meet to enhance bilateral trade ties with Bangladesh

Kolkata recently hosted a meeting on Tuesday to discuss measures that needs to be taken to increase cross border trade with Bangladesh.

Amit Kumar Roy, Commissioner of Customs said that expectations were high as India considered Bangladesh a friendly and compliant neighbour.

"Compared to other countries, compared to Pakistan etc, Bangladesh is very friendly and very compliant. They are very good to us. So, the expectation is very high," said Roy.

Given the geographical proximity, warm and friendly ties, availability of workforce and investment-supportive atmosphere, the quantum of Indian investment and trade with Bangladesh is further expected to improve for mutual benefit.

The meeting was organized by the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Kolkata city.

Recently, there was significant a improvement in the trade relations between the two countries. In 2010-11, two-way trade crossed the 5 billion mark as a result of a significant increase in Bangladesh's exports to India (68 percent over the previous year) and India's exports to Bangladesh (43 percent over the previous year).

Currently Bangladesh imports over $4.0 billion worth of products from India while India import less than USD1.0 billion worth of products annually.

Furthermore, traditional economic and cultural links between India and Bangladesh have been greatly enhanced with Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina visiting India in January, 2010 followed by a return visit by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh in September 2011.

But of late, the ongoing violence in Bangladesh perpetrated by the activists of the country's largest Islamist party, the Jamaat-e-Islami, has affected the smooth flow of trade.

The frequent strikes have been eating into the country's productivity and also causing massive losses in terms of lost investments.