India and Bangladesh Wednesday decided to conduct a joint study on the prospects of entering into a free trade agreement, which aims at boosting bilateral economic ties.
The issue was discussed during a meeting between Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu and his Bangladesh counterpart Tofail Ahmed in Dhaka.
The Commerce Ministry in a statement said that considering the vision of Bangladesh to become a middle income country by 2021 and a developed country by 2041, both ministers agreed that a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) covering goods, services and investment would provide a sound basis for substantial enhancement of trade and commercial partnership.
"They directed their officials to undertake a joint study on the prospects of entering into a bilateral CEPA," it said.
CEPA is a free trade agreement under which two trading partners eliminate basic customs duties on maximum number of goods traded between them. Besides, both sides liberalise norms to promote trade in services and investments.
The two ministers also discussed a number of issues including border haats, improvement of infrastructure and operations of land customs stations on the Bangladesh-India border, recognition of test certificates, anti-dumping measures and port restrictions.
Further, both the sides agreed to expedite the constitution of a Bangladesh - India CEO forum for providing policy inputs relating to trade and investment in areas such as jute, textiles, energy, pharmaceuticals and information technology.
Further, the Bangladesh minister requested to address the issue of anti-dumping duty levied on import of jute goods and other products.
"Both ministers agreed to fast-track the completion of six new border haats which are under construction and identification of locations for six additional haats, including Dalu-Nakugaon in Sherpur district," it said.
Recognising the importance of Petrapole-Benapole land border trading point, the two sides agreed to remove impediments affecting smooth clearance of cargo at this location.
"In this regard, they agreed for a one-time push to remove congestion of cargo trucks, with effect from October 15, for a period of two months," it said.
During the meeting, Prabhu raised the issue of sudden increase in imports of refined edible palm and soybean oil from Bangladesh and the possibility of routing of third country origin oils into India through Bangladesh under SAFTA.
"It was requested that the concerned Certificates of Origin are issued with due diligence and regularly shared with the Indian authorities, if possible through online mode," it said.
Noting the need to restore pre-1965 railway connectivity between the two countries, the Bangladesh side proposed to start a new end-to-end train service between Dhaka and Siliguri with customs and immigration checks at the starting points at both ends.
"Bangladesh side mentioned the need to establish seamless dual gauge rail connectivity between western and eastern part of Bangladesh for which Indian side offered its support," it added.
The two-way trade between the countries increased to USD 9.3 billion in 2017-18 from USD 7.52 billion in the previous fiscal.
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