India, Bangladesh should address non-tariff barriers: DGFT

India and Bangladesh should work together to address non-tariff barriers like land customs stations management and weighment of items to bring down transaction costs, Director-General of Foreign Trade Anup Pujari said today.

"Trade between India and Bangladesh has been growing steadily, but we are deeply concerned about the transaction costs. About 50 per cent of the trade is through LCSs, so those should be managed better," Pujari said at a convention organised by the Calcutta Chamber of Commerce here.

He said customs procedures, transshipment of goods and difference in weighing systems were leading to higher transaction costs. "There should be single system for weighment and that could be done by a single agency. Can we not share the same weighing machine? Common weighment should be adopted so that transaction cost is minimised," he said.

 

Pujari further said trucks from both countries should be allowed to load and unload in each other's territory so that the cost of transportation is brought down. He said Bangladesh is an important trading partner for India among the SAARC countries.

Bangladesh's share in India's export to SAARC nations was about 35 per cent last year compared to 27 per cent of Sri Lanka and Nepal (20 per cent) and Pakistan (10 per cent). Pujari also asked Bangladesh Commerce Minister Ghulam Muhammed Quader, who was also present in the convention, to speed up decisions on granting SEZ status to Indian businesses seeking to set up shops in that country. Quader said while trade possibilities between the countries is immense, non-tarrif barriers were indeed a cause for concern. "We will be visiting New Delhi soon to meet officials and talk about the various NTBs especially the weighing procedures and road and port infrastructure," he said.

According to the External Affairs Ministry, bilateral trade between India and Bangladesh has grown from USD 2.1 billion in 2005-06 to USD 5.4 billion in 2011-12.